opposition to a sewage dumping scheme championed by Auckland Mayor Sir John Allum (the Browns Island plan) that would have discharged untreated effluent into Waitemata Harbour. Robinson joined the Auckland and Suburban Drainage League, a group opposed to the idea of disposing Auckland's sewage and slaughterhouse waste into the harbour and intent on finding an alternative. Robinson's first attempt saw him take a petition containing 43,000 signatures to Parliament to try to convince the government to block the plan, but was unsuccessful. Allum dismissed Robinson labeling him a as a "noisy crank" and disliked the challenge to his authority. Graham Bush, an Auckland historian, later termed the clash between Allum and Robinson as one "between two men of steely character who ... deserve being ranked among the half-dozen greatest men in Auckland municipal history". When a vacancy occurred on the Auckland City Council in 1952 Robinson stood as an independent candidate in the subsequent by-election. He used the publicity he had gained in his fight against Browns Island to stand out from the crowd and won the election. It was the first victory for an independent candidate in an Auckland City election since 1935. Now as a council member he was appointed as a council representative on the Auckland Drainage Board, the body proposing the Browns Island plan, and opposed it from within. To try to break the deadlock, Robinson formed a new political party, the United Independents, and at the 1953 elections the new group won five seats (including Robinson) giving them the balance of power between the Citizens & Ratepayers and Labour Party tickets. They also endorsed the candidacy for mayor of John Luxford, who defeated Allum. With Allum removed from the council (and by extension the Drainage Board), Robinson assumed chairmanship of the Drainage Board. There, he proposed and eventually realised a scheme to break down the sewage in oxidation ponds ('Robbie's ponds') near the Manukau Harbour. Browns Island instead became a public reserve. His success in the scheme earned Robinson a reputation as a visionary later on helped him gain the popularity to be elected Mayor of Auckland City. Robinson had established a public profile during his lengthy political struggle against the Browns Island plan, but it took a toll on his private life. His third marriage ended and he divorced Betty in 1959. On 15 June that same year he married Thelma Thompson, an executive