This is what we want, Winston
Sandra Goudie is getting stuck into lobbying the new coalition government for a chunk of the new regional development pie.
‘‘We’re not wasting any time, I tell you,’’ Goudie said.
The Thames-Coromandel District Council mayor has two major priorities – fix the peninsula highway loop and fix her district’s marine infrastructure.
‘‘The biggest thing we’ll be going for is funding for marine facilities and lobbying for whatever we can get to add to our state highways funding,’’ Goudie said. ‘‘They’ve only had us on a maintenance regime and, of course, that doesn’t work.’’
Parts of the Waikato region could be set to win from the Government’s $1 billion regional development fund set out in the Labour-NZ First coalition agreement. Economic development is an NZ First priority and will focus on the primary industries, invest heavily in regional rail and plant 100 million trees per year for the next
10 years. But Goudie said she will lobby hard for Coromandel’s aquaculture industry. It produces about
30 per cent of the country’s greenshell mussels and 24 per cent of the Pacific oysters, provides more than 400 jobs and generates $73m in exports each year, but it’s hamstrung.
State Highway
25, which loops the Coromandel Peninsula, is a poor road – narrow, windy and fraught with dangerous slips.
‘‘We need this for regional development. Nothing could be of higher priority than something like this when aquaculture is one of the big earners for the region.’’
Forestry is a big player in the Taupo District said Mayor David Trewavas and the Billion Trees Planting Programme, along with the re-establishment of the New Zealand Forestry Service, is good news.
Taupo is home to the largest contiguous pine forest in the country – accounting for 28.5 per cent of the district’s economy, he said.
‘‘Having a ministry for forests would be absolutely perfect for our district,’’ Trewavas said. ‘‘We’ve got a lot of replanting going on and a lot of harvesting, especially through our iwi connections.’’
NZ First’s Shane Jones has been named as the Minister for Forestry and also picks up the Infrastructure and Regional Economic
Development portfolios. The forest service will be based in Rotorua.
Trewavas wants to see raw product manufactured locally, increasing the number of job opportunities.
In the year to June 2017, Waikato shared the second largest population growth rate in the country with Northland with a 2.4 per cent increase, behind Auckland on 2.6 per cent.
Waipa District Mayor Jim Mylchreest said the lack of affordable housing is a problem.
‘‘[We need] assistance with enabling land to be made available at affordable rates for housing,’’ Mylchreest said.
‘‘Water, sewer, roading type infrastructure. That is important to us in a growth area like Waipa.’’
Agriculture, forest and fishing provide 34 per cent of the jobs in the Otorohanga District – well ahead of manufacturing on 8 per cent.
Regional investment is paramount but government needs to work with local authorities to make it happen, said Otorohanga District Council Mayor Max Baxter.
‘‘The biggest thing I’ve always been after is ensuring those lines of communication stay open and we do work closely together as a partnership rather than the separation there has been for a number of years now,’’ Baxter said.
Matamata-Piako District Council Mayor Jan Barnes wants to see the expressway from Cambridge to the Bay of Plenty completed.
‘‘I am really keen to get us hooked up to the Ports of Tauranga,’’ Barnes said.
Hamilton City Council Deputy Mayor Martin Gallagher said to get the best out of the fund, the Waikato region should act as one.
‘‘It’s really important that all the Waikato mayors and local authorities speak with one voice,’’ Gallagher said.
The Waikato will have ‘‘a very clear shopping list’’, he said.