A Tauranga campaign for a new city vision has been launched in a bid to capture the often "silent" voices of the community.
The My Tauranga Vibe campaign aims to survey local residents to establish what each person considers important and to see what they would like prioritised by city leaders.
The $245,000 campaign launched today after community feedback during this year's 2021-2031 Long-term Plan consultation.
Commission chairwoman Anne Tolley said there was a frustration heard that it was difficult to plan for 10 years ahead when there was no city vision.
"We had a lot of people saying because the city has grown so much, we don't really have a collective idea of what Tauranga was meant to be or what people wanted.
"There was no wider understanding of what it meant to be living in Tauranga. This is the start of developing that," she said.
Tolley said some of the feedback came from people living in Pāpāmoa who did not feel part of Tauranga and people in Welcome Bay saying they felt they were the "forgotten suburb".
Collating everyone's views about what they most wanted for the city's future was "really important".
Tolley, and the other commissioners, said it was critical to ensure young people and other pockets of the community took part.
"This is the city they are going to inherit. It's important we grab their attention and do it in a different way," she said.
The campaign runs for three weeks and involved a survey. Photo / Supplied
"Too often you get a small demographic. This is particularly aimed at widening that demographic but it behoves us to make that happen."
The council launched website mytaurangavibe.nz today, with a video aimed at capturing the youth voice. Much of the campaign will be online focussed and able to be shared on social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. A letter drop explaining more about the campaign and how people can have their say is expected to be delivered to every household.
The campaign, which is underpinned by an online personality-style survey, will be "short and sharp" spanning a three-week period.
Tolley said feedback already gleaned from the community via the Long-term Plan process had two extremes - people who lived in Tauranga all of their lives and did not want any more growth, and people who loved the city but felt it was not keeping up with the growth and more investment was needed.
Commissioner Bill Wasley said a diverse range of voices was "key to this campaign".
"We don't hear those voices who are traditionally silent and they can take quite a while to uncover."
The new vision would help provide the direction for many future projects and decisions as it was "not just a vision standing alone".
"There have been previous examples of visions and they have just fallen by the wayside. It's critical that this will anchor and provide some clarity with what we are trying to achieve. It will be important."
Commissioner Shadrach Rolleston said the council would always get those who traditionally engaged in local government "but we have to broaden that reach" to ensure a "shared and envisioned future".
Commissioner Stephen Selwood said about 35 to 40 per cent of the community actually voted in local government politics and this was a chance for people to "do more than just vote".
Council general manager of growth and infrastructure Christine Jones said the council hoped the feedback would not just be of use to the council but also other entities such as council partners, iwi and businesses.
"Messages may come out about environmental sustainability and other businesses can look at that and use that information which is 'This is what Tauranga wants as a community'."
Once the feedback is collated, the council will analyse common themes and priorities, ultimately completing suggested next moves or an action plan by mid next year.
