Matt Cowley Tauranga City Councillor

Tauranga's city centre looks a lot different today from when it was first born in the 1800s.

Back then, the skinny peninsular that it sits on was perfect for ships to park up next too. This was back when nearly all ‘retail' goods were shipped around the country by sea.

Today, the city centre plays a different role as most retail goods are trucked to suburban shopping centres. The private car and market-led city planning has enabled the city to sprawl far from the city centre. It now means retail is diluted across the wider district.

But Tauranga's city centre has had more commercial development consented since 2009 than other cities in NZ, excluding Auckland and Christchurch.

And we have more on the way with a major redevelopment of Farmers, the new university, and potentially the council's civic centre.

Council is speaking to lots of residents and stakeholders about the new priorities for our city centre and defining what is the role of council's buildings.

Your feedback to date has been helpful. It's helping us frame up practical options on how we will accommodate our staff and deliver fit-for-purpose services for our communities.

We're developing options for locations, scope, ownership, and funding. We'll ask for your feedback on these options in the coming months.

Some residents told me that council should build the cheapest office building on vacant land near Tauriko. So I ask them if we did that, should we then stop any further investment in the city centre – because removing 500 council staff plus customers out of the city centre would almost destroy it.

These people then responded that Tauranga needs a strong city centre as it brings a lot of pride to locals and it is good for the local economy.

There have been many other interesting discussions like this and I hope the community will continue to help us reach a decision later this year.Feel free to email me your thoughts (matt.cowley@tauranga.govt.nz), call/text me on 0276989548, and follow me at www.facebook.com/a.younger.voice.