Photo from Sunlive: Durham St ‘interchange’ Today’s media report describes how more ‘chickens’ have come home to roost for Tauranga City Council (TCC) – this time regarding Tauranga’s planned central city bus ‘interchange’, which the city’s Commissioners had committed to complete by December 2023. The Council yet again seems to be putting property developers and an unfunded, non-essential council project (the “Civic Whare-Exhibition Centre-Museum”) ahead of the city’s number one priority: addressing traffic congestion. Sustainable BOP was one of the ‘stakeholders’ that took part in workshops t ..read more

Sustainable Bay of Plenty Trust has partnered with Papamoa Residents & Ratepayers Association (PRRA), Mount Maunganui Ratepayers, Residents & Retailers (MRRR), and a number of other community groups to undertake a survey on some key Tauranga sustainability issues. This came about after Tauranga City Council’s 2024 Long Term Plan (LTP) consultation in November-December 2023 left out water supply, wastewater and stormwater expenditure after 2025 – despite the new government stating the responsibility for three waters infrastructure would remain with councils. In early January, about a do ..read more

PART TWO In the first part of this article, we looked at why Tauranga City Council needs to slow down and re-set its Draft 2024 Long Term Plan (LTP), to account for the new government’s policies on three waters and transport. We now look at the current Draft Plan and assess the basic financials. What is the city’s debt level, how affordable are our rates, and is the plan financially prudent and sustainable? In its own words, Tauranga City Council “is one of New Zealand’s most indebted councils with total debt of $1.1b expected at the commencement of the LTP”. That excludes the $177 million of ..read more

PART ONE As the public’s attention switches from the coalition negotiations to Christmas shopping, let’s not forget that Tauranga City Council is consulting its vitally important 2024-34 Draft Long Term Plan (LTP) until 15 December. Sustainable BOP Trust has called on the council to delay its LTP due to the change of government. The Coalition has now confirmed it will scrap Labour’s three waters reforms and there is also huge uncertainty around transportation funding. Western BOP District Council last week chose to delay its plan by three months, but TCC is still planning to bring its plan for ..read more

You may have come across the recent story about Christchurch City Council having “serious financial issues”. As a sustainability organisation, that made us wonder how sustainable are Tauranga City Council’s finances? Tauranga City had about 158,300 residents in June 2022, whereas Christchurch City was home to 389,300 people (2.5 times Tauranga’s population). Tauranga City Council had 60,130 ratepayers according to its 2022 Annual Report, whereas Christchurch City had 177,411, which is 3 times the number of Tauranga ratepayers! So how do Tauranga City Council’s finances stack up against Christc ..read more

Tauranga City Council is asking Tauranga residents if they prefer the Civic Precinct to be financed by an ‘IFF’ levy (option 1) or rates-funded debt (option 2). Either way, the debt is repaid by ratepayers. However this is a much bigger topic than it may first appear, so we urge you to read this short post and then complete TCC’s survey by 5pm Friday 6 October. We don’t support the council’s IFF option 1 for three reasons: First, central government has limited the amount of debt a council can incur, to protect ratepayers from unsustainably high debt levels. Ironically, the current government c ..read more

Photo: NZME BOP Times Tauranga City Council told us all for years that “growth pays for growth”. It eventually admitted that wasn’t true, and today’s paywalled BOP Times article shows how growth can go ‘off the rails’ and leave ratepayers with $735 million debt. Key points: – Te Tumu development (between Papamoa East and Maketu) now delayed until 2040s – Intention was for Te Tumu development to pay most of the transport and 3 waters infrastructure costs in that part of the city incurred by TCC – That infrastructure was needed to support homes already built and being built soon in Papamoa ..read more

We’re all aware there is an important general election on 14th October. What is sometimes overlooked is that the result may lock in, or reject, the increasing centralisation of decision-making that has happened over the past few years. This could impact our region for years to come. During this electoral term, central government agencies have been given far more power than before – often at the expense of local decision-making. We can see examples of that centralisation in the health reforms, education reforms, planned Three Waters reforms, and Resource Management Act (RMA) reforms. In fact, t ..read more

The Te Manawataki o Te Papa civic centre project is the centrepiece of the Commissioners’ plans for Tauranga. With under a year left in their 3 and 1/3 year tenure, they have so far struggled to get much happening around the city, so this project has taken on even more importance. TCC’s Transport System Plan seems to have stalled. The Turret Rd-15th Ave business case continues, the Papamoa east interchange is being built as planned, and NZTA has begun its business case for the critically important Hewletts-Totara corridor. However, apart from a few minor roading projects, nothing much has actu ..read more

Guest Post by Dr Mike Joy Economic growth driven by fossil fuels (black growth) has resulted in massive ecological devastation. ‘Green growth’ just replaces fossil fuels with renewable energy and traps us in this spiral of environmental damage. All growth requires more consumption, which requires mining more non-renewable materials and more energy, which is unsustainable. To decarbonise, managed degrowth is our only good option. Only 13% of global energy consumption comes from renewables. Renewable electricity could soon overtake coal generated electricity, but electricity is only 20% of total ..read more