Local government minister Rodney Hide will recommend changes to government on how it works with Tauranga city.

When he was in Tauranga this week, Rodney met with Mayor Stuart Crosby and city council chief executive officer Stephen Town, who jointly gave him a to-do list to take back to Wellington. The list contains suggestions on what the government and local government can do to simplify bureaucratic processes.
It includes streamlining the Resource Management Act and simplifying the Building Act.
'The consents process for a small job like extending the laundry is virtually the same as doing a five-storey building,” says Stuart.
Tauranga City Council is also recommending to government that the leaky homes focus should be on repairing leaky buildings, instead of chasing faults through the legal process.
'That is something that Auckland city, Wellington and Tauranga are working together on,” says Stuart.
'We had a long discussion on our long-term community plan and audit requirements that drag things out, in terms of money,” he says.
The bureaucratic requirements are not always relevant to local government and Stuart says even councillors have difficulty understanding some of the processes.
The processes are required by central government, for which it pays local government a fee. Stuart says this does not match the actual costs to ratepayers.
The city council also wants crown properties – schools, hospitals and other services - to pay development contributions.
There are three new schools to be built in the area and they will not be paying for their water or sewerage as other people do.
'All these things add up,” says Stuart.