Straight from city council A personal view, by Councillor Steve Morris

Beautiful beachfront living on one side but surrounded by SH2, a fertilizer works, heavy industrial, and an airport on every other side. That's the scene for residents of Whareroa Marae at Mt Maunganui which predates everything else.

Marae environmental spokesperson, Joel Ngātuere, and ‘Clear the air – Mt Maunganui' member Emma Jones have done a brilliant job highlighting the impacts of heavy industrial on Whareroa and the wider Mount community recently and they've got both central and local government listening.

Fertiliser has played a crucial role in New Zealand's development, especially bringing the central plateau into production. Our port is a large employer and provides a return to regional ratepayers. Our airport has finally hit its straps with frequent flights to Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. However, larger cities, like Auckland, are having conversations about the future of industrial areas in the middle of town. With the Rangiuru industrial area about to open up, we need a vision for our industrial future.

There have been concerns about air quality at the Mount for many years and with the latest health complaints at Whareroa, we need to look seriously about relocating industrial to the city outskirts over time. How? City Council could consider rezoning industrial land to residential, providing an incentive for a landowner to redevelop their sites and move to cheaper industrial land and/or Government could help fund the relocation of these sites as an economic stimulus.

Change is inevitable and I'd predict that within the next 50 years Pilot Bay might just become longer.