As mayor of North Shore 1998-2007, achievements included: cleaner beaches after upgrading the wastewater plant and planning the new outfall tunnel; improved public transport (Northern Busway) and roading; streamlined council processes; and improved parks and reserves.

 

George’s experience covers all areas of local government.  He brings strong leadership skills to the new Auckland council with 32 years in the police and then nine years as mayor. As mayoral forum chairman (2001-2003) achieved extra $1.6 billion Government funding enabling Northern Busway, Victoria Park tunnel and other projects to proceed.

 

Managing council’s huge debt levels; achieving value for money spending; developing strong and effective local boards; and maintaining current levels of council service are George’s priorities. He sees quality urban design, to complement our magnificent natural environment, as extremely important.

 

George will work tirelessly making our communities better for present and future generations. Vote for George and the Citizens & Ratepayers team.  

Top 5 Issues

1. Rates/Costs: Maintaining rates at an affordable level and controlling council costs is my highest priority. The new Auckland council will be presented with a substantial debt burden which needs to be carefully managed C&R have a long history of strong fiscal prudence. These are tough times and we need competent leadership to manage spending and prevent budget blowouts.
2. Local Boards: The new system of local government across the Auckland region needs well functioning and resourced local boards. It will be important that each of the 21 boards quickly gets down to work and develop a strong interface with their local communities. The new Auckland council must implement three-yearly governance agreements & local budgets. The boards also need to implement community action plans following wide dialogue with their
   communities.
3. Maintaining Current Levels of Council Service: Across the Auckland region there is currently huge differences in the levels of service that each of the councils deliver to their communities. With the advent of the one council we will see a number of Council controlled organisations (CCOs) taking over work that is currently done directly by the individual councils. It is therefore vital that the CCOs, especially in the areas of roading/public transport and water/wastewater are driven strongly to maintain current standards whilst at the same time providing quality standards and service that the local communities experience.
4. Roading/Public Transport: The Auckland region has meandered along with our transport services and infrastructure. Issues such as integrated ticketing for public transport has taken for ever to achieve. Compare Auckland to overseas cities where integrated ticketing was introduced long ago and is now taken for granted. Auckland's arterial roads are abysmal with traffic lights that are not organised to give a free flow of traffic. Huge improvements can be accrued to improve the capacity of our roading network.
5. Community Security/Promotion of Social Well-being:
   Areas of Auckland are in need of much work to improve community well-being. Some areas are boarding on being ghettos and require better coordination of the vast levels of Government spending they receive. The new Auckland council needs to play a leadership role to facilitate reurbanisation of some older residential and business/industrial areas. We have developed the new rapid metro rail system and the Northern busway. It is important that council introduces the right land use planning to enable development of land near the rail tracks for high density housing. The Government (Housing NZ) and private developers then need to mobilise.
   
   The next major issue is to see that a major initiative is taken to get an increased level of business growth. Auckland is feeling the impact of the global downturn in the economy. The new council MUST ensure that the impediments that currently exist in relation to seeing people invest in business are reduced in the area of resource consenting. Increased business development equates to more jobs which means increased wealth and prosperity for all.

Personal Profile

George Wood 

George Wood works hard and doggedly for the people he represents and brings people together to get things done.  He was a three-term mayor of Auckland’s North Shore City serving from 1998 through to 2007.  His style of governance and administration ensures that he empathizes with the people around him.    George was able to bring together, during his three terms as mayor, a new style of council administration with only three standing committees and all councillors members of these committees.

During his time as mayor pushed through major reforms in relation to: cleaning up the city’s beaches and waterways by improving the sewerage piping and processing infrastructure, revamping the strategic plan and long term funding programme for North Shore City, completing and signing off the city’s district land use plan, pushing for upgraded public safety and civil defence preparedness and planning/developing and building the Northern Busway.

George believes in a holistic approach to the improvement of community safety.  This stems from the experiences he gained during his 32-year career as a New Zealand police officer.  Although primarily a manager of investigations George became very involved in improving lower social economical areas within the communities he worked.  In particular he took a strong leadership role to remove criminals and drug users from the Northcote Central area of the North Shore.  One of his strong motivations in standing for mayor of North Shore City was a belief he could achieve far more in tackling the systemic problems stemming from crime and improve social well-being as a mayor.

In his time as both a senior police officer and mayor George Wood constantly strived to better his management and leadership skills.  He ascended through the ranks of the New Zealand Police obtaining the rank of Detective Inspector at the age of 32 years.  He saw service at Auckland, Rotorua and Palmerston North handling many high profile crime investigations.

George’s tertiary study included attending the RNZAF Command and Staff College in 1992 and completing a graduate certificate in management at the Australian Police College, Sydney in 1997.

Family is a big part of George Wood’s life.  He has been married to Myra since 1972 and they have three adult children and five grandchildren.  George is the Immediate Past President of the Rotary Club of Takapuna where he has been a member since 1997.  He is also an ardent follower of the Northcote-Birkenhead Rugby Club.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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