Auckland Regional Council
The Auckland Regional Council (ARC) was the regional council (one of the former local government authorities) of the Auckland Region. Its predecessor the Auckland Regional Authority (ARA) was formed in 1963 and became the ARC in 1989. The ARC was subsumed into the Auckland Council on 1 November 2010.[1]
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[edit] Auckland Regional Authority, 1963–1989
The ARC was preceded by the Auckland Regional Authority (ARA), which was formed in 1963.[2] The ARA took over a number of existing operations from other bodies. One of its first areas of responsibility was bulk water supply, which it assumed from Auckland City Council.[3] Other functions taken over were regional planning, from the Auckland Regional Planning Authority, bulk sewage collection and treatment (south of the harbour only) from the Auckland Metropolitan Drainage Board, and bus passenger transport from the Auckland Transport Board. Water supply activities included constructing further bulk water storage dams, and treatment and water distribution works. Other achievements were completing and upgrading the Mangere wastewater treatment plant, creating the largest bus fleet in the country at the time, constructing Auckland Airport representing local government in a joint venture with central government and creating the regional parks network,[1] starting with the purchase of what became Wenderholm Regional Park.[4]
Functions added at later dates included a regional role operating and regulating refuse disposal, regional roads, the regional water board under the Water and Soil Conservation Act 1967 and harbour master and marine regulation.
Despite the focus of successor organisations on public transport, ARA had a mixed record on the matter, in 1983 going so far as to propose abolishing the Auckland railway system altogether. As late as 1987, major ARA transport strategy reports were still paying little attention to public transport.[5]
[edit] Local government reforms, 1980s–90s
In the late 1980s the Labour government, consistent with its history of corporatising and privatising government-owned entities, looked to other quasi-commercial entities to apply the same process to. Power boards received early attention, but local government was not considered as potential owners of these and their corporatisations proceeded separately. Port authorities were considered part of local government and the Auckland Harbour Board was corporatised in 1988 as Ports of Auckland, with the majority shareholding held by the ARA and the minority by Waikato local government. Some non-commercial assets and maritime regulation came to the ARA. The ARA at one stage looked to sell its holding in the port company but the proposal was defeated politically.
The Government also wanted a more commercial arrangement for the Auckland International Airport and it was corporatised in 1988, with the shareholding split between the Government and Auckland local authorities. Substantial airport reserves were also dispersed to the same parties. The ARA had no ongoing role, despite being the representative of the region’s councils in the former joint venture with Government.
In 1989 local government minister Michael Bassett concluded a reform of all local government in New Zealand. This greatly reduced the number of territorial councils in Auckland but did not materially alter the ARA, which essentially retained its previous functions under the new name of Auckland Regional Council. Anticipating a greater role in the region's governance and needing better accommodation for its staff, the ARC commenced acquisition of a new headquarters in Pitt St, completed in 1990.[6] It was a controversial move, the building later criticised by an Audit Office review for being out-sized. The controversy helped in creating a political justification for the subsequent separation of many of the ARC's functions.
The power to corporatise local government operations as local-authority trading enterprises (LATEs), modelled on state-owned enterprises, was created. However this was voluntary, with the exception of transport, where council road design and delivery operations were required to be corporatised. Council bus operations were likewise required to be corporatised, with the ARC bus operation emerging in 1991 as Transport Auckland Ltd, trading as the Yellow Bus Company. The ARC studied forming its commercial operations into LATEs held under a holding company, but was injuncted by Auckland City Council in respect of the water and wastewater function and had a failure of political will in execution.
Bassett’s successor, National’s Warren Cooper, took the process further. He promoted legislation requiring that the remaining ARC corporatisations take place and transferred ownership of the resulting companies from the ARC to a new short-lived body, the Auckland Regional Services Trust (ARST). The businesses transferred included the shareholding in Ports of Auckland and the Yellow Bus Company. Watercare Services Ltd (formed 1992) was one resulting company, the largest local government corporatisation in New Zealand. The Auckland Regional Services Trust was later required to privatise the Yellow Bus Company, which was bought by Stagecoach. The ARC later recovered the Ports of Auckland shareholding when ARST was wound up, and later forceably purchased the minority shares.
[edit] Auckland Regional Council, 1989–2010
The ARC had an umbrella function covering all the cities and districts of the region, but its regulatory power and funding abilities were restricted to areas such as public transport, environmental protection and regional parks. The ARC was an elected body, and collected its own rates.
The creation of the Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA) subsidiary led to projects like the Northern Busway, as well as significant rail and public transport investment, much of it supported by retaining Ports of Auckland in public hands to fund the improvements with the dividends.[1] In the final period before its subsumation into Auckland Council, the ARC was concentrating on the electrification of the Auckland railway network, building the case for a CBD rail tunnel, and an extension of rail to Auckland Airport.[1]
In its final years, the ARC had been getting more involved in land use regulation, a move which was met with criticism from some politicians of the concerned Councils who normally regulate such matters.[7] This criticism surfaced especially during a short-lived 2006 debate on further integration of the Auckland area, where many of the proposals included a proposed abolishment of the ARC, or a changed, less independent role.[8]
One of the mainstays of the ARC's work was expanding the parks network, which as of 2010 included 26 regional parks with more than 40,000 hectares, including many restored natural habitats and sanctuaries developed in cooperation with the Department of Conservation and volunteers.[1]
Of the rates collected by the ARC, 50% would go to fund public transport via ARTA,[9] which is to amount to NZ$155 million in 2007/2008, up from $124 million in the preceding 2-year period 2006/2007.[10] The ARC also managed regional parks with 400 km² and 150 km of coastline, for which 15% of its total funding is spent.[11] A further 19% was spent on ecological concerns, such as water quality and protecting ecosystems.[12] Other minor percentages funded areas like "built environment" (4%), "safety" (1%), "economic development" (3%) and "regional leadership and community development" (8%).[13]
[edit] Subsidiaries
- Auckland Regional Holdings (ARH) – holding entity, owner of Ports of Auckland and other assets
- Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA) – was responsible for planning, funding and developing the Auckland regional land transport system
[edit] Personnel
Chairs
- Dove-Myer Robinson
- Hugh Lambie[14]
- Tom Pearce
- Lee Murdoch
- Fred Thomas
- Colin Kay
- Phil Warren[15]
- Mike Lee
General managers / chief executives
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e Lee, Mike (July 2010). "From the Chairman". Region Wide. Auckland Regional Council: pp. 1.
- ^ Submission to the Auckland Governance Legislation Select Committee, Auckland Regional Council, 26 June 2009
- ^ History of Auckland City - Chapter 4 (from the Auckland City Council website. Accessed 2008-06-07)
- ^ "Parks for everyone, forever". Region Wide. Auckland Regional Council: pp. 4. July 2010.
- ^ Mees, Paul; Dodson, Jago (1 February 2001). "The American Heresy: Half a century of transport planning in Auckland". Presentation to joint conference of New Zealand Geographical Society / Australian Institute of Geographers conference, University of Otago, Dunedin. Urban Planning Program, Faculty of Architecture, Building & Planning, University of Melbourne. http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~cthombor/Pubs/AKtransportMees.rtf. Retrieved 9 February 2011.
- ^ Gibson, Anne (3 November 2010). "Auckland council washing its hands of former HQ". The New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/commercial-property/news/article.cfm?c_id=28&objectid=10684910. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
- ^ "John Law: Our mayors should anchor the ARC". The New Zealand Herald. 6 November 2006.
- ^ "Supersized rates bill for super city". The New Zealand Herald. 9 September 2006.
- ^ "Public transport funding gap highlighted in ARC Draft LTCCP". ARC press release. 27 February 2005.
- ^ Transport - How we will do this (from the Summary Draft Annual Plan and amendments to the ten-year plan leaflet, April 2007, Page 4)
- ^ Regional parks - How we will do this (from the Summary Draft Annual Plan and amendments to the ten-year plan leaflet, April 2007, Page 6)
- ^ Natural environments and heritage - How we will do this (from the Summary Draft Annual Plan and amendments to the ten-year plan leaflet, April 2007, Page 8)
- ^ Various sections (from the Summary Draft Annual Plan and amendments to the ten-year plan leaflet, April 2007, Page 7-11)
- ^ http://www.manukau-libraries.govt.nz/EN/ManukauOurHistory/ManukauTopics/Pages/ThefatherofManukauCity.aspx
- ^ Orsman, Bernard (23 January 2002). "ARC chairman Phil Warren dies of a heart attack". The New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=787641.
- ^ "Obituary: Hugh Aimer". The New Zealand Herald. 23 March 2002. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=1291161.
- ^ http://www.anewnz.org.nz/vision.asp?id=113
[edit] External links
- Auckland Regional Council (official website, limited material - most content has now transferred to the Auckland Council website)
