-
Watch Video
-
Related
The residents of a district sliced in two by Auckland's super city reforms are outraged that services like the local library will become off limits.
An Auckland mayor whose district has been sliced in two by super city reforms is demanding a new style of local body government.
Mark Ball says it will not help his boundary-ravaged district of Franklin, but it might make life a bit easier for displaced ratepayers.
Franklin's centre was purpose built for a community that has now been cut in two.
"We're devastated, it cuts the family in half, that's what it amounts to," Says Ball.
It means the town's popular library will be off limits to thousands of Franklin ratepayers when unpopular super city boundary changes take effect, unless a special agreement is reached between the two new councils who will control the district.
"We're going to have to do a whole lot of things differently, and that means the super city is going to have to look across the boundary and there's no indication to us that Auckland councils want to look across their borders and do things differently," says Ball.
If they don't then residents in nearby Tuakau will have to drive 50 kilometres to reach the nearest fully resourced library.
Tuakau already has a small library, but the dilemma over which other libraries locals will be able access in the future already has critics pointing to a super city that will quickly be bogged down in local rather than regional issues.
Public policy specialist David Wilson suggests the idea of improving regional governance has been lost.
"The original problem definition for Auckland was how do we get better regional governance not how do we restructure local government,' says Wilson.
This is a revamp that has got Franklin locals worried.
"It's all very well for politicians in a glass tower in Wellington to be waxing lyrical and they've been doing that but it's now down to the nuts and bolts and to be perfectly candid the politicians haven't considered those nuts and bolts," says Ball.
This is an unwanted chapter Franklin is now hoping will at least
have a happy ending for its readers.
Don't miss the Back Benches special on September 14 on the
issues surrounding the Super City and how it will impact Auckland.
Watch it live, or come down to the Northern Steamship Bar at 7pm
and join in!
