Wikileaks : "fiefdom" hobbles Auckland city development at tax payer expense
Friday 26 August 2011, 1:24PM
By Jimbo Gentry
417 views
A patchwork of competing fiefdoms in Auckland has hindered decision-making and hobbled the city's development at taxpayers' expense, according to a wikileak.
The 2009 cable from the US embassy in Wellington, entitled "FIXING THE BIG CITY", notes Auckland has four city councils and mayors, two district councils and an overarching regional council which are competing with each other.
Previous changes by the Labour government to come up with a new governance plan were "mostly cosmetic and designed to protect existing political fiefs".
The leak states that the Labour government were unimpressed with the plan but not wanting to deal with the issue during an election campaign punted the job to a powerful and secret Royal Commission with a mandate to come up with a new plan after the November 2008 national elections.
Regarding Auckland's proposed "super city" the leak states "regardless of the final design, it
will be years before we learn whether the restructuring has created the world class city everyone seems to agree New Zealand needs."
The leak berates the Auckland Mayors ability to work together.
"It is certainly hard to see how a council that included the four current mayors - different from each other in both temperament and philosophy - could succeed."