Auckland Council
Auckland Council is the local government council for the Auckland Region in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority that also has the responsibilities, duties and powers of a regional council and so is a unitary authority, according to the Local Government Act 2009, which established the council.
The governing body consists of a mayor and 20 councillors, elected from 13 wards. There are also 149 members of 21 local boards who make decisions on matters local to their communities. It is the largest council in Oceania, with a $3 billion annual budget, $29 billion of ratepayer equity, and 9,870 full-time staff as of 30 June 2016.
The council began operating on 1 November 2010, combining the functions of the previous regional council and the region's seven city and district councils into one "super council" or "super city".
The council was established by a number of Acts of Parliament, and an Auckland Transition Agency, also created by the central government. Both the means by which the council was established and its structure came under repeated criticism from a broad spectrum during the establishment period.
History
Predecessors
The Auckland Council took over the functions of the Auckland Regional Council and the region's seven city and district councils: Auckland City Council, Manukau City Council, Waitakere City Council, North Shore City Council, Papakura District Council, Rodney District Council and most of Franklin District Council.The Auckland Regional Council was formed in 1989, replacing the Auckland Regional Authority. One of the mainstays of its work was expanding the parks network, and it brought into the Auckland Council 26 regional parks with more than 40,000 hectares, including many restored natural habitats and sanctuaries developed in co-operation with the Department of Conservation and volunteers. A variety of often public transport-focused projects like the Northern Busway as well as significant rail and public transport investments were realised through the Auckland Regional Transport Authority, much of it supported by retaining Ports of Auckland in public hands to fund the improvements with the dividends.
Royal Commission
Until 2010, the Auckland Region had seven "City/District" authorities, plus one "Regional" authority. In the late 2000s, New Zealand's central government and parts of Auckland's society felt that this large number of Councils, and the lack of strong regional government were hindering Auckland's progress, and that a form of stronger regional government, or an amalgamation under one local council, would be beneficial. Others pointed to the fact that a previous integration of the many much smaller Borough Councils did not bring the promised advantages either, and reduced local participation in politics, with editorialists pointing out that the proponents of the 'super city' have carefully not made any promises of savings in light of past rises in rates and utilities bills.In 2007, the government set up a Royal Commission on Auckland Governance to report on what restructuring should be done. The report was released on 27 March 2009 and the government subsequently announced that a "super city" would be set up to include the full metropolitan area under an Auckland Council with a single mayor and 20–30 local boards, by the time of the local body elections in 2010, though it also changed some key recommendations of the Royal Commission.
Unimplemented recommendations
Some recommendations of the Royal Commission, which have not been adopted or implemented:- 6A The Auckland Council should include a vision for the region in its spatial plan.
- 6B The Mayor of Auckland's annual "State of the Region" address should describe progress towards the attainment of the vision.
- 19C: "Leadership support and development programmes for elected councillors should be strengthened."
- 21D: Auckland Council CCOs and their statements of intent should be subject to performance review by the proposed Auckland Services Performance Auditor.
- 21A 22A Two Māori members should be elected to the Auckland Council by voters who are on the parliamentary Māori Electoral Roll.
- 22B There should be a Mana Whenua Forum, the members of which will be appointed by mana whenua from the district of the Auckland Council.
- 22D The Auckland Council should ensure that each local council has adequate structures in place to enable proper engagement with Māori and consideration of their views in the local councils' decision-making processes. Where appropriate, current structures and/or memoranda of understanding should be transferred to local councils.
- 24F Auckland Council should consider creating an Urban Development Agency, to operate at the direction of the Auckland Council, with compulsory acquisition powers.
- The Auckland Council should determine the extent to which responsibilities for the delivery of stormwater services are shared between local councils and Watercare Services Limited.
- 26I Watercare Services Limited should be required by legislation to promote demand management.
- 26M Watercare Services Limited should be required to prepare a stormwater action plan.
- 27D The Auckland Council should prepare an e-government strategy as an intrinsic part of its proposed unified service delivery and information systems plan.
- 28A The Auckland Council should work closely with consumers, the industry, and central government agencies to develop a climate change and energy strategy for the region, including monitoring and reviewing electricity security of supply performance, and industry planning and regulation impacting the Auckland region.
- 30A The Auckland Council should develop a Regional Waste Management Strategy, including strategies for management of organic waste and integration of waste management with other environmental programmes.
- 32F To promote the widespread adoption of the unified service delivery framework the Auckland Council should
- 32G A statutory position of an independent Auckland Services Performance Auditor should be created to provide assurance to the council and the public that the Auckland Council is providing high-quality services in a cost-effective way. The role of the Performance Auditor will include
Legislation
Electoral history
The initial Council elections in October 2010 returned a mostly centre-left council, with Len Brown as mayor. Brown was re-elected in October 2013, again with a largely supportive council. The 2016 mayoral election was won by Labour MP Phil Goff, who had a landslide victory over his nearest rivals, Victoria Crone and future Green Party MP Chlöe Swarbrick. Goff won re-election in the 2019 mayoral election and chose not to run in the 2022 mayoral election, which was won by Wayne Brown.Withdrawal from Local Government New Zealand
On 23 March 2023, the Auckland Council voted by a margin of ten to ten to leave Local Government New Zealand, the national representative body for local councils in New Zealand. Mayor Brown used his casting vote to break the deadlock during the Council's vote. Brown said that members of the body got drunk regularly during conference meetings and that the Auckland Council could negotiate with the New Zealand Government independently. Brown also said that exiting the LGNZ would save the Auckland Council NZ$640,000 a year, helping to reduce its debt. The Auckland Council's decision to leave LGNZ was criticised as detrimental to Auckland ratepayers and cooperation with other local councils by fellow councillors Richard Hills, Andy Baker, Julie Fairey, and LGNZ President Stuart Crosby.Timeline of councillors
Structure
Mayor
The mayor has significant executive powers, their own staff and the ability to appoint the chairpersons of the council's committees. Some columnists stated in 2010 that the post was the second most powerful public position in New Zealand, after the prime minister. However, when the Minister for the Rugby World Cup, Murray McCully, took control of the Rugby World Cup fan area on the Auckland waterfront in 2011 without first notifying mayor Len Brown, columnist John Armstrong declared the myth finished.The mayor is directly elected by voters living in the Auckland Council area every three years by postal ballot using the first-past-the-post voting system. Len Brown was elected mayor in October 2010, and re-elected for a second term in 2013. Phil Goff won the 2016 election and was re-elected as mayor in 2019. In 2022, Wayne Brown was elected mayor.
Governing body
The governing body of the Auckland Council consists of the mayor, deputy mayor, and 19 other members. The members of the governing body are elected from thirteen wards across the Council area using the first-past-the-post system every three years at the same time as the mayor. Decision-making for the governing body's areas of oversight is done by committees, a few of which consist of the whole governing body, and most of which consist of a chairperson appointed by the mayor and a subset of the governing body members. The following council took office during October 2022:Wards and local boards
Auckland Council has 21 local boards covering the entire city which provide governance at the local level and are responsible for libraries and other community facilities, local parks and events, and have the power to develop local by-laws or propose local targeted rates. Each local board has 5 to 9 elected members, with 149 local board members across all boards., Auckland Council is the only territorial authority in New Zealand with local boards.
| Ward | Local board | Population | Members – subdivision |
| Albany | Hibiscus and Bays Local Board | ||
| Albany | Upper Harbour Local Board | ||
| Albert-Eden-Puketāpapa | Albert-Eden Local Board | ||
| Albert-Eden-Puketāpapa | Puketāpapa Local Board | ||
| Franklin | Franklin Local Board | ||
| Howick | Howick Local Board | ||
| Manukau | Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board | ||
| Manukau | Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board | ||
| Manurewa-Papakura | Manurewa Local Board | ||
| Manurewa-Papakura | Papakura Local Board | ||
| Maungakiekie-Tāmaki | Maungakiekie-Tāmaki Local Board | ||
| North Shore | Devonport-Takapuna Local Board | ||
| North Shore | Kaipātiki Local Board | ||
| Ōrākei | Ōrākei Local Board | ||
| Rodney | Rodney Local Board | ||
| Waitākere | Henderson-Massey Local Board | ||
| Waitākere | Waitākere Ranges Local Board | ||
| Waitematā and Gulf | Aotea / Great Barrier Local Board | ||
| Waitematā and Gulf | Waiheke Local Board | ||
| Waitematā and Gulf | Waitematā Local Board | ||
| Whau | Whau Local Board |