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Environment Bay of Plenty has finalised a controversial plan to relocate its headquarters from Whakatane to Tauranga.
The regional council yesterday formally adopted the relocation plan, meaning 100 staff will be transferred from Whakatane and a new headquarters built in Tauranga.
About 70 staff will remain at Whakatane, down from 130.
Critics of the move say the loss of jobs in Whakatane will have a detrimental economic and social effect on the town and the wider eastern Bay of Plenty.
