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Auckland city - Source: ONE News -
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Other North Island towns and cities want to follow the Auckland supercity proposal and have their local government structures streamlined.
Far North Mayor Wayne Brown said on Saturday that his district would operate better without the Northland Regional Council.
At present, the Far North has a three-tier structure of the Whangarei-based regional council, the Kaikohe-based Far North District Council and community boards.
Brown said the district covered a "monstrous" area that was larger than 48 countries, and Whangarei was closer to Auckland than where he lived.
He said his secretary fielded dozens of calls each week from people who had problems such as erosion and flooding.
"We point out that this is the regional council's responsibility and the responses fall neatly into two sets," he said.
"Half of them say, `What's the regional council?' The other half say, ` We know that but they don't do anything about it, so we want you to do it'."
He said the Far North would be happy to have direct Maori representation, a contentious issue in the Auckland supercity proposal.
Brown made submissions to the parliamentary select committee on Auckland governance, which concluded four weeks of public hearings on Friday.
So, too, did former Hamilton mayor Margaret Evans, who is part of a group of Waikato business and community leaders who want one mayor and 14 councillors to replace the present eight mayors and 92 councillors.
She said people would better understand one district plan, instead of eight different ones.
