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

No one is ever going to be happy with Pilot Bay. There should never have been a house built within a block of the beach. It should have been kept as the safe swimming side of the Mount.

It should have been developed as a water activity-based park, suitable for young families to enjoy what the councils call the Passive Category in their requirements for their reserves. Young families have always preferred a picnic on the green grass, under shady trees, while watching the younger children play in the safe waters of the harbour. The Mount Beach used to be deluged by young adults campers. But as the area has become more developed, more pressure has come on the small harbour beach. The walkway might seem a democratic decision now – but the fact remains that there is no other equivalent passive recreation multi-use park with easy access in the harbour.

Huharua Harbour Park, on the end of Plummer's Point, is a new park which does try to meet the requirements for a Tauranga Harbour passive recreational park. It would have been marvellous if it were in easy walking distance of the Mount – and it is too small and is just a local park.

There are many wonderful small local reserves and walks that pepper the whole harbour sub-region. But the 20,000-odd visitors don't know the area; and our small reserves are not equipped for large invasions. A regional park was approved for Tuapiro, in the northern harbour, which would suitably complement the surf beach at Waihi. But the plan was dropped in 1998 after opposition from one or two locals. Full sub-regional parks, recognised as destinations, are needed that can attract and cope with at least a couple of thousand visitors at any one time. A bus service should operate at least during the summer months; and the parks would have to be promoted.

The key problem with Pilot Bay is that too many different groups want too much from just a small strip of beach. Passive recreation parks have to be multi-use and be much larger than council's current thinking. They have to be destinations and allow for sensible development of the harbour for both locals and visitors. One easy way to solve the problems at Pilot Bay would be to ban the launching of any small boats. The idea would never work because the boaties' access to the harbour currently has priority over the passive use of the harbour.

A recent report, that found its way to SmartGrowth, stated that the problem with the harbour is all of the day-trippers getting in the way of boaties. The sports representation on SmartGrowth does not have any harbour activity representation; and there are no passive recreational representatives. Democratic decisions are only valid if you talk to all the stakeholders. It appears the councils are looking in the wrong direction. The Goodness Highway promoters started up because they believed that Tourism Bay of Plenty was only servicing Tauranga and the Mount Beach, some shopping and a gateway to Rotorua. The council has already noted the disconnect between the current Tauranga tourism planning and the rest of the Western Bay. We need a total plan for people in the Bay that recognises locals' – and tourists' – needs, and northern and southern harbour needs. And, at the end of the planning, the harbour needs to survive as the ‘Jewel in the Bay'.