Brian Anderson The Western Front www.sunlive.co.nz

Merry Christmas everybody and a Happy New Year. This column lately hasn't been an ideal platform for adding the word merry to Christmas, but three items of news this week are probably our best news all year.

It is the sort of news that offers hope, which is one of the main themes and behind every best wish for the season. GFC, Psa, council, planning, consents, finance and property revaluations are not elements of cheerful Christmas fare. Many people feel they are victims of poor government, national and local planning. The RMA, SmartGrowth, councils, big business and banks are all targets for blame, but the good news is they are being challenged all around the world and it looks like these structures are about to have a major overhaul in the Bay also.
It has been a tough year, but I am delighted to be able to report on news that appears to be one of the best Christmas presents for everybody in the Bay.

A couple of months ago, I believed I had the answer to our problems. Small towns and small businesses were the main casualties of the current crisis and helping them was where we had to start. A new leadership structure at community level would be needed. Very few community boards around the country have been delegated any authority by their council and very few have been given any chance to be leaders in their communities. I was preparing my case for more delegated authority for our representatives when I caught up with the new local government guidelines, the recent developments in SmartGrowth planning, the Productivity Commission and the New Zealand Centre for Sustainable Cities. These are all working documents and not just more talk.

I have already mentioned the new local government guidelines that are aimed at making councils more transparent, accountable and the timetable will become more obvious closer to the next local body election. We might even have information that will allow us to start to understand council, how it works, its financial twists and be able to make informed decisions with our voting.

SmartGrowth turns out to be our only local forum through which the combined councils will be able to get out of our current financial mess. This is not just a problem for the Bay, but Tauranga City and Western Bay have some of the worst performance figures in New Zealand. It is not enough to have transparency and accountability. Ideas for new strategies are now being debated and will soon be open for discussion during the planning process early next year. This early invitation for consultation is a new approach and seems to herald the end of tick the box, agree or disagree council consultation of the past.

The Productivity Commission has just published a draft report on Affordable Housing. It is interesting to read all of the submissions that it has received so far. The draft report doesn't pull any punches. It describes very clearly what is not working in our economy and local government. It criticises some of the thinking with the new Auckland model and makes suggestions that are very relevant and applicable to the Bay.

The Centre for Sustainable Cities has welcomed both SmartGrowth and the Commission's plans, but is still critical of some of the recommendations. It is very supportive of decentralisation of authority and encouraging for strengthening satellite communities. All of these new plans are looking towards encouraging more delegated responsibility for small towns, offering more decentralisation and enabling more community involvement and genuine communication. This is not the Santa Claus type of communication where we tell the council what we want for Christmas and have to accept what we are given. It is where we are informed on what needs to be done and where we support each other and celebrate our achievements together. It's called a democracy. Now that's a nice Christmas present. I am very hopeful and I can't wait to open it.