The Government's decision to make Auckland a super-city, with one mayor elected by voters and up to 30 community boards, has drawn praise from business and community boards but criticism from others.
The Government has made significant changes to the system recommended by the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance, which spent over a year considering how the region's 1.4 million residents could be better served by their councils.
A second tier of six elected local councils, proposed by the commission, has been scrapped in favour of community boards, which will have more power than the present community boards, but will not be able to raise their own revenue or hire staff.
The revised proposal has the approval of Auckland businesses.
Auckland Chamber of Commerce head Michael Barnett says a single city will remove confusion and will be a big advantage for local businesses. He describes the plan as first class.
The organisation that represents community boards has praised the Government for putting the local back into Auckland's local government.
The boards will be overseen by a single mayor and 20 councillors.
Some believe the boards will lack power and clout because they will only look after day-to-day matters, will not have direct representation on the super-city council and will not be able to raise their own revenue.
However, Mike Cohen, chairman of the Community Board's executive committee, says Prime Minister John Key should be commended for increasing local representation.
Mr Cohen wants a mechanism between the boards and the Auckland council to prevent any abuse of power.
The Employers and Manufacturers Association says the boards' funding needs to clarified.
Local Government Minister Rodney Hide rejects suggestions that the boards will not be able to represent ratepayers, saying the boards will be able to connect with the super-council and that their role will be established in law.
Mayors' reaction
One of those who believes the community boards will lack teeth is Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey.
Mr Harvey is livid and is vowing to fight the proposal through the select committee process. He says the changes will strip communities of their power and voice.
'We thought the Royal Commission was almost spot on, but this one seems to be castrated. This is a big deal and Aucklanders are smart people. They better start realising right now that unless they have a say in the next week, they will lose out enormously on the future.
"One hundred years of local government - damn good local government - has almost gone."
North Shore Mayor Andrew Williams is also scathing of the Government's plans, saying do not take into account areas outside Auckland city.
Mr Williams says areas such as the North Shore, Waitakere and Manukau have been forgotten and believes the Govenment's plans are all about power and losing democracy.
Manukau Mayor Len Brown believes a super-city would not be in the best interests of South Auckland because Manukau will lose representation and local democracy will suffer.
However, Auckland Mayor John Banks says there will be more democracy and less bureaucracy.
Mr Banks says every community in Auckland will have a voice under the super-city plan, but it is up to them to ensure it.
Maori seats
The ditching of three seats recommended to be reserved for Maori on the super-city council has prompted predictions of an uprising against the Government.
The Government says the public will get a chance to decide whether it wants Maori seats on the council, but Maori leaders say the loss of guaranteed seats is a tragedy.
Rangi McLean, who is on Manukau council's Treaty of Waitangi committee, says some Maori will be so insulted by the blow to democracy that it could inflame them in the same way that the foreshore and seabed legislation did.
Mr McLean says it will be hard for the super-council to keep in touch with local tribes if the three seats go.
Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples says the Government's plans for Auckland lump Maori with other ethnic groups and does not recognise them as tangata whenua.
Dr Sharples says Maori built Auckland, gave the land and nurtured it.
Maori should not be lumped with other ethnic groups, and Mr Hide should have kept the guaranteed representation.
Parties respond
The Green Party says the super-city's mayor and chief executive could become the most powerful individuals in New Zealand.
The party's Auckland issues spokesperson, Sue Bradford, says she is concerned at the potential loss of democracy.
Ms Bradford predicts that Auckland could end up being run by a small group of wealthy people, with the mayor and chief executive holding tsar-like powers.
The replacement of six second-tier councils with between 20 and 30 community boards could cause huge job losses, she says.
The Labour Party says the Government's decisions take the local out of local government, but the United Future Party says the streamlined approach to local government should be a blueprint for Wellington.
Change deadline 'a stretch'
The Department of Internal Affairs says getting Auckland's super-city structure up and running by next year's local body elections will be a stretch, but it can be done.
The Government wants the changes in place by October 2010.
The Royal Commission predicted that a four-year change-over would cost up to $240 million. The Government is putting in $13 million.
Department chief executive Brendan Boyle, who is also Secretary for Local Government, hopes most problems will be overcome by next year, but acknowledges there will be difficulties, such as merging computer systems.
Despite fierce criticism of the changes, a specialist in local government law, Linda O'Reilly, says a judicial review of the Government's plans is unlikely to succeed.
Ms O'Reilly says it would be hard to establish grounds for a judicial review in the High Court, and lobbying MPs is also unlikely to result in changes.
