Published 24 September 2010 Auckland City councillors approved a bevy of plan changes at their final scheduled full council meeting last night. One that missed was private plan change 8, proposed by Westfield (NZ) Ltd for the expansion of its St Lukes shopping mall into a town centre. It was deferred for further consideration and […]
Read more →Auckland City
Roger awards bring bitter council divide to surface
Published 9 April 2010 The Roger awards – insult or wakeup call? A fair assessment or a politically biased judgment? Something to be treated lightheartedly or something to react bitterly towards? The annual awards, first made in 1997, are organised by Murray Horton of CAFCA (the Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa) & GATT […]
Read more →Heritage trust, Wynyard & Parnell station endorsements
Published 13 November 2009 Auckland City Council’s city development committee yesterday: endorsed a heritage policy & toolkit for management methods & incentives, to establish a heritage trust, and to request another report on feasibility & impacts of a plan change for transferable development rightsendorsed proposed plan changes 38, 39 & 43 for notification, affecting […]
Read more →City development decisions
Published 11 September 2009 Auckland City Council’s city development community reached a number of decisions and debated a number of issues yesterday, which I’ve run out of time today to present in any detail. Detail on some, at least, will go on the website over the weekend. Among decisions the committee made: […]
Read more →Auckland council holds rates down, but leaves a pill for the new super-city council to digest
Published 18 June 2009 Auckland City Council’s majority proudly kept today to its promise of an average 2% rates rise for the next financial year starting 1 July – lower than the council’s estimate of its cost of inflation, 2.5%. The Citizens & Ratepayers majority rejected pleas from the City Vision, Labour & independent […]
Read more →S&P issues negative outlook on city council ratings
Published 4 May 2009 Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has reduced the outlook for Auckland City Council’s local currency ratings from stable to negative, although it’s affirmed the rating at AA/A-1+. Standard and Poor’s said on Friday it revised the outlook on these ratings from stable to negative to reflect the likely change in […]
Read more →Armstrong makes clear consultation won’t shift Auckland council from 2% rates rise
Published 4 March 2009 Auckland City Council approved its be-nice-to-the-rich 2% rates rise yesterday. The increase doesn’t come into effect until 1 July, but combined committees chairman Doug Armstrong made it clear the consultation process wouldn’t sway the council majority from its decision. “This council is about providing leadership for the city. We’re doing […]
Read more →Council majority accused of robbing the poor with rates proposal
Published 20 February 2009 City Vision & Labour councillors on the Auckland City Council have described the Citizens & Ratepayers majority’s rates proposal as “reverse Robin Hood – robbing the poor to pay the rich”. The minority group has released a council officers’ report showing the devastating effects of huge policy changes by theCitRats, […]
Read more →Council majority proposes 2% rates rise & pay cut; minority does a small whine
Published 12 February 2009 Auckland City Council’s Citizens & Ratepayers majority has responded to the international economic crisis by proposing to hold the rates increase to 2%, and to freeze staff pay. And in response to that, the City Vision & Labour minority expressed shock & surprise at the spending cut & wage freeze. […]
Read more →City council makes $200 million retail bond issue
Published 16 December 2008 Auckland City Council has approved plans to offer a 7-year retail bond issue of up to $200 million to investors. Council finance & strategy committee chairman Doug Armstrong said: “The retail bond issue will be used to increase funding certainty by refinancing existing short-term debt and covering the remainder of […]
Read more →Council introduces new consent tracking system
Published 1 December 2008 A new building & resource consent tracking system installed by Auckland City Council comes into effect today. City development committee chairman Aaron Bhatnagar said pre-lodgement meetings between council staff & those managing larger projects, such as commercial property developers, would give clear guidelines about what to include with the application […]
Read more →Council will take slashed long-term budget to consultation
Published 19 November 2008 Auckland City Council staff said yesterday the council’s 10-year capex plan has been cut from a $5.4 billion exercise in 2006 to a $3.7 billion one today. Those figures include projected inflation. “The distinguishing characteristic of the last plan was an almost doubling of capex over 10 years, financed by […]
Read more →Council sets broad rates targets
Published 7 October 2008 Auckland City Council has assumed council rates of inflation of 5%, 4.7% & 4.4% for the next 3 years and voted today to stick to its inflation rate in setting council rates for the next 10 years. It’s good to see the council can think some things through well ahead. […]
Read more →Council holding company brought out into the open
Published 19 September 2008 Auckland City Council’s majority group brought its plans for a council holding company out into the open this week, to trenchant criticism from City Vision & Labour councillors who raised the spectre of a commercialisation model that would override appropriate governance of council recreational & social services. The Citizens & […]
Read more →Stench in a closed room
Published 16 September 2008 Sewers smell and, when councils take their fundamental business into closed meetings, that can have a suspicious whiff too. I run diary items on the website pointing out matters which councils have decided to discuss in the confidential section of their agenda. Sometimes the reasons are quickly apparent, sometimes they’re […]
Read more →Wide range of council reports under way on issues affecting property
Published 16 September 2008 2 reports to Auckland City Council’s city development committee were deferred last week and the timing of another was firmed up. Council staff are working on about 25 reports for the committee, including 4 which were dealt with at last week’s meeting and another which was added. Those dealt with […]
Read more →5.1% Auckland City rates rise confirmed, story details project deferrals
Published 20 June 2008 Auckland City Council has voted in the average 5.1% rates rise the Citizens & Ratepayers majority aimed for. Minority City Vision & Labour councillors wanted a 7% increase overall, with changes to the uniform annual charge to spread the load differently but amounting to a similar sum. The council […]
Read more →Council to replace external reference forum with regulatory advisory board
Published 13 May 2008 Auckland City Council’s city development committee has endorsed the establishment of a regulatory advisory board. Authority to appoint members will be delegated to the city development general manager, to be endorsed by the chairman & deputy chairman of the committee. The board will report quarterly. The council’s regulatory services […]
Read more →Council defers consideration of regulatory advisory board
Published 11 April 2008 Auckland City Council’s city development committee has deferred consideration of setting up a regulatory advisory board until its 8 May meeting. In a report to yesterday’s committee meeting, the council’s regulatory programme group manager, Jenny Oxley, said the board was being considered “as a means of enhancing the council’s governance […]
Read more →Council sends commissioner consent reviews off to private room
Published 5 March 2008 Many of the more controversial consent applications dealt with by the Auckland City Council will be dealt with more privately under a change of practice decided at last week’s council meeting. Although the practice has varied from term to term, for several years the council has run a fairly open […]
Read more →