Paula Thompson BOP Regional Councillor www.envbop.govt.nz

Well-They say a week in Politics is a long time- and in the case of the Government acting to take over ‘Party Central' management from the Auckland Super Council- the week was about 4 days!!

The Government has made no secret that is sees Events Hosting as a key part of NZ's economic development Agenda-and it doesn't get much bigger than a Rugby World Cup to showcase NZ to the World-not only as an Events magnet but for all the ancillary economic advantages .And clearly the government was unimpressed with the failings evident in last Friday nights event management.

There a lesson in this for Local Government- The lesson is that this Government expects local government to partner with it in its economic development Agenda for NZ and to perform.

The Government made the Auckland Councils unite into a Super City in relatively quick time and they insisted the new Council deliver up quickly- a spatial plan for Auckland setting out the blueprint for infrastructure-land use patterns-key educational,health,housing,and other key social facilities- because Auckland is central to NZ's economic development. The government wanted action and did not have confidence that Auckland local government would ‘do it to themselves'- The Government expected the Auckland Super City Council to perform on the staging of the RWC because of the importance of Events Hosting as a core economic delivery strategy.

The Government Agenda for economic development is clear- As a part of that Agenda the Government expects each region in NZ to have a robust planning framework on which that regions sustainable development will be premised and which provides the interconnections between sub regions- neighbouring and other regions. The Government sees NZ as a supply chain and wants each region (as integral parts of that chain) to get on with developing the blue print that will guide the regions environmental, economic, social and cultural development and prosperity. It wants the frameworks to be used as a tool for regions to prioritise spend and facilitate funding and revenue arrangements. Councils are the bodies to facilitate that planning that will –of necessity- involve a whole of community approach to ultimate design-prioritisation-spend etc.

The reality is that a significant amount of the information needed for this BOP regional blueprint is already available-The missing part is the bringing of it altogether into a cohesive guide. It is not rocket science-it is not planning for planning's sake-it is the key to the Bays destiny!! If Auckland was able to deliver its blue print for consultation in pretty short order then we should be able to do likewise. Such a blueprint will give the Bay Of Plenty a roadmap for its sustainable growth and development .It will also give Government investment agencies the confidence to invest and Ditto for other funders and investors.

I think this Regional Planning should have happened years ago- But then –talk of this kind was seen as posing threats of amalgamation and ‘take over's' Then as now that is a leap too far. Who knows what is the best form of local government for the BOP i.e. How many Councils we have etc That will become clearer once we have a robust plan for the sub regions and Region and we can see how it all fits together –where the priorities are and how they will be provided. Local Government needs to stop worrying about structure-Get the planning framework right and the right structure will become obvious!

It's time to deliver on the Bays potential. If we don't then we might also discover that the government is very serious about its Agenda.