Who’s in charge?
For six years Auckland Council and the National Government armwrestled over the city’s biggest issues.
The council had some success in holding the line against National’s belief that planners and restrictions on urban sprawl were the prime cause of its housing shortage and costs. The inaugural super-city mayor, Len Brown, led a dogged pursuit of the ambitious downtown rail tunnels, eventually getting an initially reluctant Government to back it.
In a contest of ideas it is easier to see which idea prevails, and Auckland Council has so far had a good record. The change of government in September 2017, with Labour taking charge, answered most of the Auckland Council’s prayers.
Overnight there was Government led by a party which Auckland’s mayor Phil Goff had been a key part of until just over a year earlier.
A Government which, like Goff, favoured a regional fuel tax to accelerate transport projects, and which had picked up a vision designed by lobbyists for a public transport network with light rail.
A Government determined to building affordable homes itself, rather than haggle over the policy settings which it hoped would encourage the market to solve the housing crisis. But as the Government gets on with the job, there is anxiety within Auckland Council that the Beehive might want to wrest some control and influence.
There is breath-holding in the council over what powers will be given to the Government’s Urban Development Authority when legislation appears next year.
The authority will deliver largescale housing developments and