Auckland Governance - Hardening the Silos

Lots of people and organisations are putting the finishing touches now to their submissions to the Local Government (Auckland Law Reform) Bill. We dealt with ARC's submissions earlier this week. And of course we - and probably you reading this - are tigers for punishment and know the in's and out's of what's happening.

But consider this: it's my reckoning that 90% of Auckland ratepayers don't know what's happening. Yet. I've lost count of the conversations I had in January - you know - by the BBQ, over a beer, catching a fish - with professional Aucklanders - that go like this:

"You know the supercity thing...?"
"Yes..."
"Is it happening...?"
"Yep. This year."
"But you'll be all right. Won't affect the ARC will it...?"
"Too right. Everything's abolished. They're starting with a clean slate."
"Shit. I thought the whole thing had sort of died away. The Herald doesn't tell me a thing..."

Since going back to work at ARC I've had conversations with a lot of other local body politicans who echo this experience. I think the public have no real idea. But a lot of concerned people do, and there are going to be a lot of personal submissions. I think the Select Committee hearing submittors is going to get a painful wake-up call. National MPs will be surprised to get so many angry and concerned submissions from people and groups they would normally rank as supporters.

The thrust of a lot of informed submissions could go a bit like this:

....The changed governance arrangements set out in the Bill “aim to create one Auckland, which has strong regional governance, integrated decision making, greater community engagement and improved value for money.” (You can find these exact words in page 2 of the General policy statement that is embedded in the Bill's explanatory note).

. These laudable aims are presumably the desired outcome of the Bill’s provisions however there seems no chance they will be achieved given the contents of the Bill:

· There is no detail on five of the seven council-controlled entities (CCOs) that government’s high-level governance decisions provide for in Auckland’s new governance framework;

· The Bill fails to provide clear authority, control and accountability linkages between the Auckland Council, its role to develop a spatial plan and associated strategies, implementation of these plans, and the delegation and control of proposed CCOs to deliver the policies and strategies set by Council;

· There is no detail around how the Council will achieve alignment and integration among and between, and maintain control and accountability of the CCOs that Government has agreed be established to operate at ‘arms length’ from Council, even though suggestions for how this be achieved are set out in Cabinet papers and this is stated to be one of the Bill’s major aims;

· Also missing is important detail on the functions, powers and duties of the tier of local boards that will (presumably) deliver the ‘greater community engagement’ and community based decision making that the Bill claims is a major aim;

· It is difficult to see how integrated decision-making will be possible - either horizontally or vertically - given the strong structural separation that has been designed into the overall structure....

People have begun talking about the hardening of silos...

Councils are often criticised for "silo thinking". Council divisions and departments become laws unto themselves and challenge attempts at integrated decision-making. And this is the thing with the reforms - stronger regional governance was a key objective. And this has always required integrated decision-making. Across departments - ie across land use planning, transport, water, economic development, parks - the lot. Joined up decisions.

Place-making or place-shaping, usually done at local level, demands joined up decisions too. Integrated decisions.

Instead of silo removal in Auckland, we are getting hardened silos.

I remember talk of hardened silos when I was involved in the anti-nuclear movement in Europe. Nuclear missiles went into hardened silos. The silos were so hard and strong they could withstand a nearby nuclear strike. Seriously tough.

Perhaps that's the objective for Auckland governance: build service functions into hardened silos, tough enough to withstand attack. From ratepayers. From the little old lady down the street. And tough enough to withstand challenge and questions from councillors.

Now that's a recipe for successful local government.

In Albania.

But not Auckland, New Zealand.