Auckland Council must focus on its core business after the water crisis highlighted Auckland’s failing water infrastructure, says ACT Leader David Seymour

“In the face of a critical council infrastructure deficit, the Central Government should do a deal with councils: stop funding silly stuff, and we will give you access to the funding sources you need.

“At present the Central Government tightly constrains councils sources of revenue.

Local government needs to be given freedom from central government interference, combined with clearer accountability to voters, says ACT Leader David Seymour in the wake of the New Zealand Initiative’s latest report on localism.

The report summarises its idea as “setting clear roles for each tier of government, with limits on the ability of either party to act beyond these limits”.

“Central government meddling in local affairs has resulted in central and local

ACT Leader David Seymour says it’s time to put councils back in their box, after Auckland Council bureaucrats spent $500,000 coming up with the slogan “The place desired by many”.

“I’m out door knocking in the Epsom electorate today and what I generally hear constituents want from Council is not a new slogan but some other things,” says Mr Seymour.

“I have people caught in battles with the council to trim or remove dangerous trees,

ACT Leader David Seymour is encouraging mayoral candidate Vic Crone’s stand on political billboards. Crone has been forbidden by Auckland Transport to use billboard sites for her campaign by Auckland Transport, even though the sites have already been approved for commercial uses.

“She is absolutely right.  Why should candidates not be allowed to use billboard space that would have had some form of billboard anyway?

“Does Auckland Transport think that the Electoral Commission

ACT Leader David Seymour is urging councillors to make their positions on rezoning plans clear after tomorrow’s extraordinary Council meeting.

“Reports are that Councillors are receiving veiled threats from officers to keep them quiet are an affront to local democracy,” said Mr Seymour.

“Having been pushed back hard in 2013, it seems that unelected elements in the Auckland Council have come back for another bite at changing the character of Auckland communities.  This grind-em-down strategy