A major win for the mayor as he successfully guts the city’s transport organisation, explains The Bulletin’s Stewart Sowman-Lund.

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‘A fundamental reset’

Auckland Transport is set to be legislatively gutted, with many of the core responsibilities of the agency to be picked up by the city council and local boards. It fulfils a pledge made by mayor Wayne Brown, who was frequently taken issue with the actions of his own council-controlled organisation. The changes are explained here by the The Post’s Sapeer Mayron.

In short:

• A new Auckland Regional Transport Committee will be established and charged with developing a 30-year Integrated Transport Plan for Auckland;
• Auckland council will be designated the Road Controlling Authority;
• Local boards will now also have more say in transport decisions; and
• Auckland Transport would continue to deliver infrastructure services, but its policy and planning and strategy focus would be removed.

On the one sense, it’s a shock – this is a major shake up to a major, public facing organisation. On the other, it’s exactly what Wayne Brown has been wanting to do for much of his tenure in the top job. “This is the fundamental reset I have long advocated for,” the mayor said yesterday. “We can now begin transitioning AT to a council-controlled organisation focused on delivering better transport for Aucklanders.”

It’s Wayne’s World

The reforms are a “huge win” for Wayne Brown who had put forward a very similar proposal around Auckland Transport for next year’s budget, argued the Herald’s Bernard Orsman. The mayor has previously advocated for council taking back control over several “council-controlled organisations”. Along with AT, the mayor wants to take a knife to events agency Tataki Auckland Unlimited and entirely abolish Eke Panuku, the city’s urban regeneration organisation. When the mayor first put forward this idea, Bernard Orsman reported at the time, the organisations disagreed. AT chief executive Dean Kimpton argued against a “full reset” and believed that “long-term infrastructure investment requires certainty beyond the political cycle, which is somewhat ‘protected’ by AT’s arm’s length status”.

Transport minister Simeon Brown said yesterday that with Auckland Transport’s responsibilities shifting to the council, the public would now be able to vote against decisions it disapproved of. In a statement, reported Stuff’s David Long, Auckland Transport’s chief executive Dean Kimpton was diplomatic and accepted the changes put forward. “AT acknowledges the announcement from the minister of transport and the mayor of Auckland… which sets a clear direction for transport governance and decision-making in our region.”

Populism vs evidence

Speaking to RNZ’s Finn Blackwell, Greater Auckland blog founder Matt Lowrie was sceptical over parts of the decision, praising the shift of some responsibilities to council but warning “this means that a populist decision might be chosen over an evidence-based decision simply because the politicians don’t want to upset people”. On a recent post for his website, at the time Wayne Brown formally put forward his idea, Lowrie acknowledged there had been ongoing concerns about the lack of control the council had over transport decision-making, listing several times when Auckland Transport had “undermined” council. “The status quo clearly hasn’t worked, despite a lot of efforts to make ‘soft changes’ to it by the council over the years.” But the area where Lowrie had most of his concerns was over the new powers for local boards, telling RNZ it could be risky for them to have authority over certain transport decisions like setting speed limits.

The ‘optics’ of it all

As noted by Matt Lowrie, giving the council more power could lead to more political decisions. But Wayne Brown clearly believes that’s the right approach. As reported by BusinessDesk’s Oliver Lewis (paywalled), the mayor told reporters yesterday that people already believed the council was responsible for transport issues in Auckland and this move would make that a reality. “If it doesn’t work, I will be responsible. And I’ll happily be responsible for things I’ve had a say in,” said Brown.

The government has previously advocated for a local approach to local issues, suggesting it would like to see more responsibility shifted from central government to councils. The Spinoff’s Joel MacManus questioned whether the coalition was adhering to this in reality, noting several times when the government appeared to meddle in local politics. This latest issue is a bit of both – the government is wading into Auckland, but on the request of the mayor and in an effort to give more power to the city’s elected officials. As one local board chair claimed to RNZ, the announcement would allow for more community involvement in decision-making. The changes will take time to come into effect, given they require central government sign-off. It will likely take until after the next local election to be implemented in full, giving the mayor a lengthy runway to prove his views make sense. Time will ultimately tell whether it pays off or, as Wayne Brown observed, the city tells him he got it wrong.