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

Some great news this week that the Bay of Plenty was one of the top performing regions in New Zealand last year, according to a report from Business and Economic Research Ltd.

We rank just behind the new Auckland Council, and improved five places from 2010. These national rankings of all of New Zealand's 66 local authorities, 14 regions and 20 cities are based on indicators of economic activity, such as population, employment, GDP and businesses.

The Bay had the highest employment and GDP growth for 2011, the fastest growing medium-term GDP and ranked second in medium-term employment growth and on the Relative Openness Index, which measures gearing of the regional economy towards export-focused sectors.

Bay of Plenty districts and cities also ranked in the top 10 for the first time, with Tauranga the only city in the top 10, and ranked New Zealand's top city for economic performance. The fact that all parts of the region feature well up in the national statistics reflects the strong partnerships we have between local authorities and how well we work together.

This report shows the considerable value of our regional council getting involved in economic development in this region, one of the few councils to take this role seriously. And it shows how well placed we are to make the most of the valuable resources our region has to offer through our Bay of Connections economic strategy.

Bay of Connections is building on the region's collective strengths, and it is proving that what happens in our region is important nationally. We need to understand what promotes economic growth and where this growth is coming from to make the most of it.

The BERL report calls Western Bay of Plenty a ‘solid performer'.

If you have a view on this or any other regional council matter, I invite you to email me [email protected]