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

The Bay of Plenty Regional Council is proposing a general rating increase across the region of 3.5 per cent. Based on a Tauranga median property land value, this will mean an annual difference between last year's general rates of about $17.

The council has committed to an on-going programme of cost savings and doing ‘business better'. In addition to focusing inwards on achieving efficiencies, the council is also focusing on getting a regional spatial plan completed – so that opportunities and priorities for investment and funding across the Bay can be better identified. It is an exercise about 'joined up thinking and planning, so that the region and sub regions can maximise opportunities and manage investment and funding in the interests of sub regions and the wider region”. Spatial plans are not just about council-funded infrastructure and services, but also include government and other infrastructure facilities and services.

The council is continuing to fund many Tauranga Harbour and Catchment programmes, aimed at restoring, preserving and enhancing the harbour and catchment environments. Our rivers and estuarine areas are blue-green jewels, and the next three years will see huge focus on how best to manage our water ways. One of the key issues is the vexed topic of erosion, and its contribution to harbour sedimentation. The council is funding a research project to help determine the relative contribution of river and stream bank erosion to the problem. In addition, the council will be investigating the causes and potential mitigation options for ‘mass coastal erosion'. This will be done in conjunction with the Tauranga and Western Bay councils.

Freshwater management is a big focus of central government; and there will be many issues that will face local government in and around freshwater management over the next year –particularly around co-governance and management with focus on water quality and allocation. The operating environment for local government will be the subject of further government changes to local government and Resource Management acts .The next year will be challenging, but invigorating, as councils across the Bay work hard to respond to doing the business of local government better.