The North Shore City Council was formed on 1 November 1989, with previous local government boundaries on the North Shore dating back to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: Devonport Borough had first been formed in 1886, Birkenhead in 1888, Northcote in 1908 and Takapuna in 1913 (although the latter did expand into Castor Bay, Glenfield and Albany). Only East Coast Bays was a relatively recent creation, in 1954, and perhaps the only time the various local bodies had successfully worked together was to set up the new cemetery at Schnapper Rock in 1974.
From the outset, many residents within the new City were fearful of losing their local identity and concerned about a lack of attention to local concerns.
The new city was now the fourth largest in New Zealand by population and faced many issues, one of the first being the confirmation of the name ‘North Shore’ as opposed to ‘North Harbour’ City. Other issues included a unified rating system, a single district plan, the effective development of the Albany basin, future-proofing the development of sewage disposal and effective roading across the new 13,000 hectares city. The North Shore Drainage Board had been formed in 1951 and its assets and services had also been included in those of the new city.
Unlike elsewhere in greater Auckland, North Shore City had four Mayors between 1989 and 1999. At the 1989 elections Ann Hartley (Mayor of Birkenhead since 1986) won a 5,000 vote majority over Wyn Hoadley (Mayor of Takapuna since 1986). In 1992 Paul Titchener became Mayor with a 6,000 vote majority, and in 1995 George Gair (former long-term National M.P. for North Shore) became Mayor with an 11,000 vote majority. In 1998 George Wood became Mayor with a 2,500 vote majority, and continued to be Mayor until 2007. Andrew Williams was the last Mayor of North Shore City.
In 1991, the new Council centralised its offices at 1-7 The Strand, Takapuna and following rationalisation of staff numbers and ‘contracting out’, redundancies soon followed. Despite controversies over funding, new civic facilities were built including the North Shore Sports and Leisure Centre in 1992 (now the North Shore Events Centre), the Bruce Mason Centre in Takapuna was opened in 1996 and the North Harbour Stadium in Albany in March 1997.
From the 1990s onwards, Albany became the new population and economic growth area for the North Shore. The Albany Campus of Massey University was opened in March 1993 and the Albany Shopping Centre initially opened for business in 1997. Suburban housing estates soon followed and the old fruit orchards disappeared.
The Clear Communications Centre at Smales Farm opened in 1999, starting the development of that major office park next to the Northern Motorway. However, the adjacent 6.24km Northern Busway wasn’t formally opened until February 2008 and further to the North the Northern Gateway Toll Road opened in January 2009.
Since 1925, the Waitemata Electric Power Board was responsible for the expansion of electricity throughout the North Shore, and further to the North and West. This Board began the 1990s trading as ‘Waitemata Electricity’ and then joined with the Thames Valley Electric Power Board in 1994 to form the privately run Power New Zealand Ltd. From 5 January 1999 this became United Networks Ltd, which was taken over by Vector Ltd in 2002. There are now a myriad of energy companies.
Newer residents also had less of a sense of the old Borough and City boundaries, and North Shore people generally began to feel that they were now part of a greater North Shore, with regionally based facilities and services. Suburban housing growth further blurred the old geographic distinctions. At the 1991 Census the population of North Shore City reached 152,646 and was 205,605 by 2006. By the time of the 2013 Census, the North Shore was part of Auckland Council.
By David Verran
