Walking up to the Mount with my wife last weekend, we spoke to a nice old bloke, a tourist who'd just battled to the top.

He made the comment: 'I had to do it. Coming to Tauranga is nothing without this”.
Unfortunately he's right. But it's time we changed the record.

We need a shake-up; to create a strong central administration, with vision and passion for the whole Western Bay.

We currently have a fractured leadership, conflicting agendas and an army of toothless councillors. Western Bay of Plenty District Council's offices residing within Tauranga City Council's boundary just highlights the silliness of the situation. I believe my council is broken in two and it needs to be fixed.

Sure, it's a situation we've inherited from a time when it made sense; when Greerton and Tauranga were separated by a long dirt road. But technology and infrastructure have long since rendered any logical division obsolete.

Outside core duplication of effort, how can ratepayers of either council tolerate both camps spending millions on 10-year plans created in isolation?

We need a council with one vision, one plan and one set of rules for the city, suburbs and outlying townships of our little corner of paradise.

Forget a unitary Bay-wide super council. That would be an unnatural union.
A political and logistical nightmare.

However simply joining Tauranga City and Western Bay of Plenty District councils makes perfect sense for Tauranga right now.

The reasons for amalgamation are overwhelming. Costs, decision making and strategy should all improve.

But the longer we leave this decision, the longer it is before Tauranga cements its rightful place as one of the best cities in one of the best countries in the world.

T Boyne, Welcome Bay.