Bill to keep Rodney out of Auckland hits Parliament!

Legislation to exclude Rodney from the new Auckland “supercity” and establish a new unitary council for the district is now before Parliament.

The legislation — in the form of a ‘local bill’— will be introduced into House by Labour MP Darien Fenton

“Ms Fenton has backed up the calls of her party for more local democracy in Auckland and the Council is grateful that she’s sponsoring this bill into Parliament,” says RDC chief executive Rodger Kerr-Newell.

Rodney District Council decided on this course of action after receiving a request from the Northern Action Group (NAG) asking council – among other things - to promote a local bill to keep the district’s northern ward out of the new Auckland Council.

While the Council sympathised with the NAG request, it was also acutely aware of strong opposition throughout Rodney to the district’s inclusion in the supercity.

This opposition was apparent following a robust, independent survey carried out by Colmar Brunton. This survey – involving more than 1,200 randomly selected people throughout the district – asked residents whether they supported or opposed Rodney being part of the Supercity.

Of those surveyed, only 21% supported Rodney’s inclusion in the Auckland Council, while 52% opposed it – a ratio of over two to one.

Mr Kerr-Newell says the decision to progress with a local bill was supported by the majority of the Council, made in a public meeting, and followed considerable analysis of the feasibility of Rodney District Council taking on a unitary council role as well as the poll information.

“The Council has been thorough in the preparation of its position and would have been at odds with community sentiment and its own situation analysis if it had taken any other course,” Mr Kerr-Newell added.

It is conventional for local bills to go to at least to the first reading stage and then be referred on to a Select Committee.

ENDS

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