Heather Shotter: Making the case for Palmerston North

Palmerston North is already one of the top three fastest-growing logistics centres in the country. Photo / 123RF

OPINION:

Last year was a long and challenging for everyone, but the New Year will be just as demanding given the need to focus now on driving economic recovery. Central and local government have key roles to play in this regard, alongside business and our communities, and working together effectively has never been more important.

While there will be many competing demands for Government attention and funding, it's important to focus on strategic investments, including three key opportunities in our region that we have raised with the new Government.

When people think of our city, which marks its sesquicentennial this year, the adjectives that come to mind are often not especially flattering. But this is a city that has been hiding its proverbial light under a bushel for too long.

The ASB Regional Economic Scorecard showed that our region out-performed every other during the toughest months of 2020, thanks to its strong fundamentals and economic diversity. We can build on this for the benefit of the wider economy, through the right interventions, investment and strong partnership with Government.

In this context, a key priority that we have communicated to Government is their commitment to investment in the construction of KiwiRail's planned freight hub, building on the previous Government's investment in 2019 of $40m of PGF funding in the master planning and land acquisition stage of the project.

This momentum would help to galvanise co-investment, enabling this critical piece of logistics infrastructure to be delivered faster and begin unlocking its promised productivity gains.

As a natural interchange point for goods travelling to and from all corners of the North Island, a number of major businesses such as Toyota, Countdown and Ezibuy already operate distribution centres here.

Palmerston North is already one of the top three fastest-growing logistics centres in the country, and we know there is huge latent demand from logistics and distribution businesses for KiwiRail's planned new freight hub because of the response to the funding certainty provided to date for the initial enabling/planning phase of the project.

All the available adjoining land has already been rapidly acquired by potential commercial users and we are now rezoning more to meet demand.

Another key related priority is the delivery of the long-planned Regional Freight Ring Road, which would connect the State Highway network, the KiwiRail freight hub, Palmerston North Airport and the new industrial zone we are developing.

It would convert the freight hub from a railhead into the centre of a high-quality, fullyintermodal logistics precinct serving domestic and international markets, thereby enabling the full value of investment in the KiwiRail facility to be realised.

It will also deliver additional local and regional benefits; providing better connections between Massey University, FoodHQ and Linton Army Camp and diverting heavy freight away from our city centre.

A key priority we've communicated to Government is their commitment to investment in the construction of KiwiRail's planned freight hub. Photo / File

The best thing is that this is genuinely 'low-hanging fruit' because creating the Regional Freight Ring Road largely involves widening and/or strengthening existing roads in area, with only a handful of new connecting sections required.

Following a renewed commitment by Waka Kotahi in 2018 to take the next steps on this long-planned roading network, we have worked closely with the transport agency to drive progress, so that together we can unlock this economic potential, and bring significant value to the whole country.

A third opportunity we have highlighted to the incoming Government is to help facilitate the development of an integrated food science and agritech centre of excellence in Palmerston North.

Our city already has an inherent advantage, with a critical mass of food science and agritech expertise including 10 institutions from universities and CRIs to Fonterra and other private sector R&D centres.

But the issue is that maximising the contribution they can make to demonstrably lifting New Zealand's game in value-added food exports and innovation depends on better collaboration between them, and this requires leadership.

For example, there may be opportunities to use funding levers to effect change and deliver the outcomes sought. Beyond that, investing in a dedicated, co-located world-class centre of excellence would help to galvanise the sector further and tangibly demonstrate Government's stated commitment to moving New Zealand's export economy up the value chain.

Alongside those strategic opportunities for our region, we are also committed to playing a constructive role in the delivery of Government's priority initiatives for this term, water reform and RMA reform. In respect of three waters, we share the view that it's critical to focus on the best model to deliver on three water services for New Zealand as a whole.

This strategic approach is also reflected by our leadership in developing a Regional
Spatial Plan for Manawatū-Whanganui and on the Manawatū-Whanganui Three Waters Service Delivery Review project.

The work we've done in developing the regional spatial plan ahead of these being required by new resource management legislation has given us some insights relevant to the detail of the proposed new Act, which we look forward to sharing with Government as the reform process unfolds.

There's a lot to be positive about in 2021, but moving on from a world-leading Covid response into a worldleading Covid recovery will require strong partnership between central and local government, and we're ready to play our part in that.