- By Laura Kvigstad, Auckland Council reporter, and Chris Harrowell, partially funded by New Zealand on Air
Howick ward councillor Maurice Williamson has failed in an effort to shrink the Howick Local Board from its current nine elected members to seven.
Auckland Council has carried out a review of its representation arrangements prior to next year’s local body elections.
Submissions on potential changes have been made by the public and the city’s local boards.
The council’s initial proposal for its representation arrangements for the 2025 elections included numerous changes.
The one impacting east Auckland would see a change to how the Howick Local Board’s three subdivisions of Howick, Pakuranga and Botany are represented.
The Howick and Pakuranga subdivisions would keep their three current members but Botany would drop from three to two.
A new Flat Bush subdivision would be created with three members, taking the entire board’s membership to 11 elected representatives.
The change was proposed due to the growing population in Flat Bush.
The Howick Local Board suggested reducing Botany’s representation from three members to two and creating a new three-member subdivision for Flat Bush.
Rapid population growth in Flat Bush meant the current Botany subdivision was no longer compliant with the relevant legislation, board chairperson Damian Light says.
More than 80 per cent of residents in the board’s area who were consulted on the proposed changes support them, while just seven per cent did not. Another seven per cent were uncertain.
If the board did increase in size to 11 members it would be the largest in Auckland, but that is in keeping with its community having the largest population, Light says.
The Auckland-wide ratio for local boards is 11,675 residents per member, with Howick currently at 17,522 residents per member, making it the highest in Auckland.
The council’s governing body was set to vote on the recommendations at its meeting today, September 26.
Before voting on the substantive motion, Williamson put up an amendment to reduce the Howick Local Board from nine members to seven.
It’s the second time he’s put forward an amendment looking to reduce the local board’s size, with a similar amendment voted down on June 27.
He said councillors would get slaughtered by the public if they brought in more elected representatives.
“We have got more elected members in the council than the whole country has and to be saying we are going to have some more it will be dynamite at the next election,” Williamson said.
Governance principal advisor Warwick McNaughton said the issue with the amendment was that it would be non-compliant with the Local Government Act.
The Act requires the population per member in a ward to not vary from the average by 10 percent.
“To decide to accept non-compliance there needs to be a community of interest – a reason,” McNaughton said.
Cr Andy Baker questioned if the council even had the grounds to make such a change.
“Did we consult on reducing Howick’s total number of board members from nine to seven? Was that part of the original consultation,” Baker asked.
McNaughton responded that it was not in the original consultation material.
“There were four or five submissions suggesting it,” McNaughton said.
Cr Julie Fairey said she was frustrated by having the debate a second time.
“I did read every single submission. I did sit through all of the hearings and the deliberations which I chaired.
“There were five people who wrote in that they would like fewer members for this local board.
“We had far more, hundreds more, say that they supported this 11-member structure.”
She said 1,479 people submitted on the proposed change with 86 percent of the local community supporting the increase.
Fairey gave Williamson a pointed stare across the table while saying, “I kind of feel a little bit like this might be a bit of virtue signalling for someone’s community.”
Deputy mayor Desley Simpson said she saw merit in reducing the number of elected members.
“I just feel that Aucklanders don’t feel like elected representatives need to increase,” she said.
Williamson’s amendment was lost by six votes to 15.
Cr Sharon Stewart, Cr Wayne Walker and Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson were among those who voted in support.
The final proposal was carried unanimously and will be publicly notified for appeals and objections.
- Disclosure: Howick Local Board deputy chairperson Bo Burns is the owner of the Times.
