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

This week, the Bay of Plenty Regional Council held a workshop on Tauranga Harbour and its catchments. We all recognise the harbour is a very special place and needs a lot of focus to ensure it is protected and enhanced for the future.

Man is having a big impact on the health of the harbour; and while a lot of work is being done around the harbour, much of it is not linked up. Regional councillors supported the development of an integrated strategy for Tauranga Harbour and its catchments – in partnership with other councils and key stakeholders including iwi – to reflect the changing landscape in front of us.

Important changes we face include the Tauranga Moana treaty settlement process, which will result in co-management of the harbour with Tauranga Moana iwi, and will likely call for a ‘Mountains to Sea' plan for Tauranga Harbour.

Then there are the actions in the revised SmartGrowth strategy, which recognise the need to review the outdated Tauranga Harbour Integrated Management Strategy, and implement an integrated Tauranga Harbour programme with a focus on sustainable land use and improving water quality. The RMA reforms call for a ‘single district plan'.

We have a new Regional Policy Statement and are working on a new Regional Coastal Plan. In addition, the Freshwater Management reforms require a catchment approach for the setting of objectives and limits/targets for water quality and water quantity.

Right now we have an opportunity to respond to all these drivers in an integrated way.

By engaging fully with our community, iwi settlement partners, other councils and other key stakeholders to develop a shared vision for the future of our harbour; by gathering the missing scientific information and by developing agreed outcomes and actions for the future of the harbour; we can develop a shared plan to co-ordinate our activities.

The regional council is keen to have strong stakeholder engagement as an input to the strategy, and a partnership approach in the decision-making around its direction. The final message from councillors at the workshop was: 'Don't drag the strategy development out, do it as fast and as well as we can, so we can all get on with safeguarding the future of our iconic harbour and its catchments”.

If you have any views on this or any other issue, please contact me on neesj@xtra.co.nz or ring me on 07 579 5150. Or you can check out my website at www.janenees.co.nz