TDC ‘missing in action’ over development

The top of the south is missing out on funding, as its councils fail to present a united front.

The Nelson City Council’s governance committee heard on Thursday from Nelson Regional Development Agency (NRDA) chief executive officer Mark Rawson that at least two Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) applications that were being worked on ‘‘probably won’t see the light of day’’ because of the situation.

The situation was likened to a ‘‘three-legged stool’’ by committee member John Murray, who said Nelson and Marlborough were being let down by the Tasman District Council.

‘‘We’ve got the regional economic development strategy going well, we’re doing our bit, Marlborough’s doing their bit, Whakatu’s doing their bit – and strangely, but not surprisingly, Tasman is missing in action.

‘‘I liken it a little to a threepronged chair. We’ve got two legs there, but one is missing, so you don’t have a chair at all,’’ Murray said.

‘‘How do we get them back to the table and open the chequebook? We’ve contributed, we’ve done our piece.

‘‘I just wonder why their priority is not on regional economic development, yet they seem happy to sit out there and take all the benefits that are coming,’’ he said.

Some benefits include PGF funding announced on Wednesday, which includes $6 million for the Cawthron Institute’s national algae research centre, $252,000 towards expanding Tasman’s Port Tarakohe, a $99,000 fund towards improving data gathering in the Marlborough Sounds, and $95,000 for artificial intelligence work.

Rawson said the announcement was ‘‘the culmination of the first round of work’’, and there was a ‘‘pipeline’’ of potential future PGF grants.

‘‘There’s a pretty good opportunity to end up with some additional announcements in the next three to four months.’’

However, Rawson said there were examples of funding applications that he did not believe would be successful because of to the councils’ failure to present a unified front. ‘‘That has been a challenge for the region.

‘‘I can think of two other potential PGFs that we have worked through that I don’t think will see the light of day as a result of not being able to present a unified top of the south approach, which is disappointing.’’

NRDA chair of the board of directors, John Palmer, said the TDC’s failure to stump up its fair share of funding was a ‘‘major frustration’’ for him as a Tasman resident.

‘‘There are a number of people individually who are incredibly disappointed that they aren’t fronting up with their share, but the council collectively have failed to do that,’’ he said.

‘‘The question to us often is ‘Show us the money’, which means ‘Demonstrate that you’re making a difference’.

‘‘There’s certainly been a belief in Tasman, particularly in the tourism space, that all the tourist attractions sell themselves, so you don’t have to do anything – which we know is fundamentally flawed.’’

Barker said the NCC had ‘‘over the years’’ floated the idea of limiting the benefits that Tasman district reaped from work done by the NRDA, to ‘‘bring home the message that this organisation benefits them and they’re not paying their way’’, but this was a difficult task.

Rawson said Tasman was a significant beneficiary of the NRDA’s work, with about 51 per cent of visitor spending in the region ending up going to Tasman district, and about 35 to 40 per cent of business development work going into Tasman businesses.

‘‘They’re the businesses that are going to be more productive and create high-value jobs in the future."

He said the biggest challenge for the region was the ‘‘human challenge’’.

‘‘That human challenge is attraction and retention of talent to fuel our companies for the future, to be able to afford our public services, and that poses a challenge sometimes in being able to understand how important that is and being able to understand the public role, the market value role, in delivering that.’’

‘‘We’ve got two legs there, but one is missing . . . How do we get [Tasman District Council] back to the table and open the chequebook?’’ John Murray, Nelson Regional Development Agency committee member