Tauranga and Western Bay mayors keen to make a regional deal with Govt

Tauranga Mayor Mahé Drysdale at the LGNZ conference in Wellington. Photo / Laura Smith

Tauranga and Western Bay of Plenty councils hope to be among the first invited to propose a regional deal with the Government.

Western Bay of Plenty District Council Mayor James Denyer said it had been working alongside neighbour Tauranga City Council “for a long time” on this and they were “ready to go”, while new Tauranga Mayor Mahé Drysdale believes they have a “good shot” at being among the first five.

Regional deals are touted as a coming together of central and local government. In his framework announcement on Thursday, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown said they would drive economic growth and deliver the infrastructure New Zealand needs.

It followed blunt comments to Local Government NZ conference attendees from Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, who said ratepayers did not expect to pay for a “laundry list of distractions and experiments that are plaguing council balance sheets across the country”.

Local Government Minister Simeon Brown speaks to media at the LGNZ conference. Photo / Laura Smith

Brown reiterated the message: No more “phantom projects and non-delivery”.

He said regional deals would support long-term collaboration focused on economic growth and productivity, delivering resilient critical infrastructure and improving the supply of affordable, good-quality housing.

The deals would be used to co-ordinate capital investment between government levels and enable regions to use new and existing funding tools to pay for infrastructure.

“These deals will transform the way central and local governments partner,” Brown said.

Five regions’ basic proposals would be sought this year, with one to be finalised by the end of 2025.

Selection would be based on criteria including looking at councils in growth areas with clear objectives on economic growth, productivity and infrastructure and the capability, capacity and collaboration track record to deliver on a deal.

What a deal might look like

On a visit to Tauranga in March, Luxon told the Bay of Plenty Times the city would “likely” be included in the first of the deals.

Denyer told Local Democracy Reporting there were “indications” the Western Bay council would be among the five invited to propose a deal.

“We’re pretty confident but there’s been nothing official.”

If that eventuated, he said it “will be huge” for the region in providing long-term certainty for projects and development, but he understood it was not about getting “free money from the Government”.

Denyer said his council had been working with Tauranga on what they would want from a possible deal for a long time and had projects to progress.

“We’re ready to go.”

In a briefing to the incoming elected council, Tauranga’s now-departed commission said it was working to confirm a regional deal.

It believed this was “strategically important” to the city and sub-region’s economic growth.

Its proposal focused on two economic objectives: boosting export earnings and enabling future growth and being a sustainable, resilient and liveable city.

New Tauranga Mayor Mahé Drysdale is confident the city council will be among the first five councils to agree on a regional deal with the Government. Photo / Alex Cairns

Four weeks into Tauranga’s top job, Drysdale said he believed it had a “good shot” of being one of the five.

“If you listen to the rhetoric around economic growth, providing housing and that sort of resilience – we’re in a very good position to do that.”

The new council was focused on partnerships, he said.

“We understand there is no money there, but it’s trying to find new ways of helping us afford some of those projects.”

He was unsure if it would get an answer “shortly” or in a few months.

Regarding the message to councils to focus on essentials, he said the new council was looking to get value for ratepayer money.

“We’ve got a few things in the air at the moment.”

He was unable to go into specifics on where it would look to save costs “being so new to the job”.

“That’s what we are trying to get our head around.

“We’ve got to go line by line through everything and figure out where the opportunities are for us to save money.”

Among major projects the council was leading were the $306 million civic precinct and $164m Cameron Rd stage two upgrade.

Laura Smith is attending the Local Government NZ conference as a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. She previously reported general news for the Otago Daily Times and Southland Express, and has been a journalist since 2019.

- LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.