So once again, Waitakere City wants to take over Western Rodney.

What's in it for us? Not much that I can see. Sure, we would be part of a bigger city, but I have a strong feeling after the initial honeymoon that we would still end up the poor cousins in the deal.

It would appear that the main benefit would be reaped by Waitakere - namely an increase in land area and an increase in ratepayers - although perhaps it could be argued that Waitakere's "green" philosophy is perhaps more suited to our area.

Waitakere first mooted this idea back in 2001. At the time, I ran a poll on the Helensville Website - and 74% were against the takeover. There's another poll on the site at the moment, and it's pretty consistent with that from six years ago - currently 80% want our area to remain in Rodney District.

While I agree with those figures, they are strangely at odds with other polls in recent years: in September 2002, 44% of respondents said we don't get a fair deal from RDC, with another 33% saying we only get a 'fair' deal. And in May last year, when asked if Helensville is treated fairly compared to the rest of Rodney in terms of amenities and civic design, a whopping 94% said we weren't.

I can only take from these figures that most people think we would be even worse off with Waitakere.

I guess it's all pretty moot anyway - can anyone imagine RDC willingly parting with thousands of ratepayers? I think not.

So Bob Harvey, looks like you'd better go poaching elsewhere!

Finally, apologies for the lengthy break in posts. I haven't been ill, absent or anything dramatic like that - just too damn busy!