John Cronin BOP Regional Council Chairman www.envbop.govt.nz

It was a privilege to be at a luncheon this week organised by the Tauranga Chamber of Commerce. The leads were mayors of Tauranga; Stuart Crosby, Hamilton; Julie Hardaker and the Super City of Auckland; Len Brown.

Western Bay Mayor Ross Paterson, Rotorua Mayor Kevin Winters and myself as chair of the regional council also attended.

We were told that over 57 per cent of the New Zealand population growth within the last 10 years and that over 40 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) was within our region. In other words, this region, where you and I live, is significant to New Zealand.
It is one scenario, however, to know these facts – and it is another to work actively together to progress this region and 'to do our bit” to help get New Zealand out of this recession.

It is like Smart Growth – Western Bay of Plenty Council, Tauranga Council and the regional council working together. We are renowned in central government circles for this approach, but we still have to integrate this more fully to bring in Rotorua Council and the Eastern Bay Councils to make the Bay of Plenty really united.

Nice sounding words won't make it happen

Working together will not happen unless the platitudes and nice words transform to actions, preferably with timelines and milestones that actively make it happen.

In making it happen, it is important that central government is on-side as a partner in this culture of working together.

Here in the Bay of Plenty we currently work together in a way that is better than any other region and we can be proud of that – but not rest on our laurels.

As the regional council chairman, I look forward to these expressions of cooperation from Auckland and the Waikato – and to developing a culture of making it happen.

You can all be assured that we are willing and capable. We know that by working together we can be an influence in work opportunities.

The meeting this week was a first and the Tauranga Chamber of Commerce is to be congratulated. If we are going to promote the councils working together, it would be great if the Chambers of Commerce, tourism boards, airports and economic agencies all joined to a common goal, while respecting each others differences; then there will be real growth with a real plan for economic prosperity.

So with this spirit of cooperation, let us embark on serious actions that take our successes to date in working together to a new level – good to great, but hope this is just not talking and transforms to actions with the active involvement of central government.

If you have a view on this or any other local government issue, I would be pleased to receive your comments.

I invite you to e-mail me; [email protected]