A message from Mayor Mahé with Mahé Drysdale

The councillors and I recently hosted a community event at the Historic Village, where about 70 locals joined us for an open conversation about our city’s future.  

The purpose was simple: to share updates on council’s plans and progress and to hear directly from you about the issues that matter most. 

Our council is committed to open and transparent democracy, and events like this are an important way to ensure direct access to elected members and information on projects and priorities. 

One of the highlights was seeing many new faces. Expanding the diversity of views we hear is a core engagement goal, because broader feedback helps us make decisions that truly reflect the whole community.  

At the event, we shared our aspiration for Tauranga: to become the best city in New Zealand. To achieve this, we want to be the best in everything we do. It’s ambitious, but it’s a goal we’re committed to striving for. 

Key priority areas 

To guide us, the councillors and I have established four key priority areas we’re focusing on for delivering for the people of Tauranga. They are: enabling housing; addressing transport; enhancing our environment; and delivering great services for our community.

Alongside these priorities, we’ve set principles to guide our decision-making: Look after what we’ve got; be accountable and transparent; deliver value for money; everyone pays a fair share; growth pays for growth; be bold and innovative. 

Get involved! 

We’re committed to making Tauranga the best city it can be, but we can’t do it alone. There are a set of community outcomes we’re working towards but it’s important that these outcomes continue to resonate with you, the people of Tauranga, so we’ll be consulting on these as part of the next Long Term Plan (LTP) process. Your feedback will help shape the future of our city, so we encourage you to get involved. 

If you missed last month’s community event, the full recording, presentation, and follow-up answers to some of the questions asked on the night can be found on the Tauranga City Council website. 

We’ll be holding more of these events across the city next year, so stay tuned.