Jane Nees BOP Regional Councillor www.janenees.co.nz

I think that the Bay of Plenty has huge potential to improve on how it achieves regional development.

No matter what structure we end up with in the local government space, we should be aiming for comprehensive regional planning, strong collaboration and shared service delivery, and robust connections between communities.

Regarding regional development, we have made some good progress in the Bay of Plenty with the development of the Bay of Connections economic development strategy, which is taking a sectoral approach to identifying barriers, opportunities and actions. So far we have sector strategies for aquaculture, freight logistics, energy, rugby sevens and forestry and wood processing. We are also starting on the development of a Bay of Plenty spatial plan which will deliver a regional plan for development and infrastructure. The regional council has established a Regional Infrastructure Fund and we are in the process of doing due diligence on a number of proposals for regional funding. BOPLASS, the Bay of Plenty's local authority shared services entity, has made some good initial progress, but so much more is possible.

We are operating in a changing environment where Auckland as a region is getting its act together and it is important that the Bay of Plenty does not lag behind.

So we need to do more. My thoughts are:

• More joined up thinking, planning and collaboration across the region - not just between local authorities and economic development agencies, but with government agencies, health boards, and education providers.
• Local government should be an enabler, not a bottleneck - we should be looking to do things better, smarter, quicker and more cost effectively. Shared services should be high on the agenda.
• We should unlock regional wealth to maximise outcomes - the strong balance sheet of the regional council needs to be leveraged to benefit the region.
• We need to work with industries and business people to identify their barriers and enable their planned development.
• We need to listen to our community and consider their views.
• We should be working with other neighbouring regions - especially where we have supply chains in common. New Zealand is too small to be continually reinventing the wheel.
• We need to focus on sustainable development - development should not be at the cost of the environment.
• We need to identify areas of huge opportunity - for example, ensure that treaty settlements translate into positive sustainable Maori economic development and improved outcomes for Maori and the region as a whole.

These are just a few thoughts - but regional development is critical for our future and we need to be shifting gears and gaining momentum.

If you have any views on this or any other issue, email neesj@xtra.co.nz or phone 07 579 5150. Or you can check out my website: www.janenees.co.nz