Media Release 11 June 2010

North Shore City Council spending ratepayers money on political protest meeting.

Public Notice of meeting contains untruths.

[Statement from David Thornton]

The North Shore City Council has paid for a quarter-page colour advertisement in today’s North Shore Times inviting residents to a meeting outside the Council headquarters in Takapuna to protest what it calls ‘Water Privatisation’.

The meeting, at 11.30 am tomorrow Saturday will be followed by ‘National Day of Action Against Privatisation Rally’ which the council recently resolved to support.

The Councils states that the recent Legislation on the SuperCity ‘Auckland Council’ requires the new council to charge for wastewater [sewerage disposal] on a ‘volumetric’ basis – that is wastewater will be charged for against a volume calculated as a percentage of fresh water supplied to the individual property.

There is no such provision in the new Legislation. Water and wastewater charging will remain as at present until 2012 – and from 1st November this year the new Auckland Council will make decisions on water pricing.

The new Auckland Council will not be able to sell the water supply organisation Watercare – the law expressly forbids this.

Under the Local Government Act 2002, councils are not permitted to privatise water-related assets.

Any decision to introduce volumetric charging will be made by a new locally and democratically elected Auckland Council - after the present councils have ceased to exist.

The highly political, and somewhat dysfunctional, North Shore City Council should not be spending ratepayers money to engage in a political protest meeting – the subject of which is based on untruths and mis-information.

ends

© Scoop Media