Bay of Plenty Regional Partnership
In July 2006, central Government changed the way it supported local economic development initiatives. The aim was to encourage the establishment of more internationally competitive businesses within the regions and to get regions like the Bay of Plenty that had three separate strategies within the region, to work together instead of individually.
The changes were designed to encourage the region to exploit the critical mass available from region-wide collaboration to undertake larger projects that will result in greater impacts on the region’s economy, and also be nationally significant.
Environment Bay of Plenty led the Community Outcomes Bay of Plenty partnership to analyse the region’s economic status and determine the benefit to the region of having a region-wide economic strategy.
Business Economic Research Ltd was commissioned to do a situational analysis of the Bay of Plenty region in June 2007. Key findings were that while each sub-region has unique economic development issues, there are significant similarities, linkages and opportunities that extend across them. The report said a wider collaborative approach was the best way to attend to these issues and exploit the opportunities.
Regional Governance Group
Following the recommendations of the report and acknowledging Government’s new regional development programme, the Community Outcomes Bay of Plenty partnership group established a governing group to guide the formation of a Regional Economic Development Strategy and to submit funding applications to the Ministry of Economic Development for regional initiatives.
The purpose of the Regional Governance Group is to:
- Guide the preparation, implementation and review of a Bay of Plenty Regional Development Strategy. This strategy will provide a short to long term economic development view for the region, and will set priorities for funding projects across the region.
- Provide region-wide support for key economic development challenges, such as improving productivity, raising household incomes, and sustainable business development.
- Encourage bigger projects with bigger impacts, such as more work on skills shortages and on improving infrastructure.
- Take advantage of cross-regional opportunities, such as business innovation across the Waikato and Bay of Plenty and linkages with Auckland.
- Process for Establishing the Regional Governance Group
The Regional Governance Group is made up of seven representatives from around the region: three nominated regional business representatives; one representative from each of the three economic development agencies (EDA); and, a COBOP representative. The Regional Governance Group members are:
- John Cronin (Community Outcomes Bay of Plenty representative)
- Tony Hawken (CEO - Eastpack Ltd)
- Frank Aldridge (CEO - ABN Amro Craigs)
- Richard Vallance (CEO - Ngati Whakaue Tribal Lands)
- Murray Davies (Chairman - Priority One, Western Bay of Plenty)
- Sandra Kai Fong (Bright Economy Advisory Board, Rotorua)
- Anthony Olsen (Toi-EDA representative Eastern Bay of Plenty)
Environment Bay of Plenty plays a key role in providing strategic advice to the Regional Governance Group, and is leading the development of the Regional Economic Development Strategy, and completing submissions for Central Government’s regional funding.
The Regional Governance Group is supported by a management group made up of Environment Bay of Plenty’s Group Manager Strategic Development and an officer from each of the three Economic Development Agencies. This team implements the decisions and actions resolved by the Regional Governance Group.
