​Ambitious community strategy may be too broad to be effective, mayor says

Auckland Council is pushing ahead to implement its thriving communities strategy after scrutiny from the mayor.

At the Park, Arts, Community and Events committee on August 11, the Ngā Hapori Momoho Thriving Communities Implementation Plan was approved.

The plan looks to create a targeted approach for communities and enable them to lead with a fairer, more sustainable Tāmaki Makaurau in mind.

The item report acknowledged councils need to shift from a siloed, one size fits all, council knows best approach. 

Mayor Phil Goff expressed concerns about how council will be able to achieve the objectives in the plan.
“There is a whole lot of stuff that we do not have any influence over,” Goff said. “It would be lovely to think that council could increase whānau and community financial security but that is outside our ball game.”

Goff said a narrower and more focused approach may be better than a “broad sweeping strategy”. “I kind of feel this will be an exercise in futility; best intentions, great objectives but no ability to deliver.”

Senior policy advisory Dave Jaggs reminded Goff that the strategy the plan was based on had already been adopted by the committee earlier in the year and the plan was just how council intended to meet the objectives.

“I definitely take your point, we will be focusing on areas where we can make the biggest impact to begin with,” Jaggs said.

Jaggs said that council did have certain roles and levers to help deliver on the strategy but agreed that it was an “ambitious and bold vision”.
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The plan is intended to run for three years with a deep dive analysis of its success at the end.