Mayor welcomes report on region’s future

Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey has welcomed a high level draft report into the future direction of the region.

The (draft) report by an international review team was released today.

Mayor Harvey says the issues identified are commonsense.

“For more than a decade Waitakere has focused on more compact developments around town centres, and economic development is our number one priority,” he says. “It is good to have those strategies endorsed.”

“But talk ¬– and reports like this – are meaningless unless there is action behind them. What we need now are real concrete plans for tackling the problems and recognition that Auckland local authorities must work together rather than beavering away on our own plans and projects.”

Mayor Harvey also welcomes the report’s references to events. “We have a hanging coming in 2011,” he says. “It’s called the Rugby World Cup and the America’s Cup Challenge and unless we have all our planning, and particularly transport, sorted out by then there will be chaos. This report really puts the spotlight on that international event.”

The possibility of a commercial airport at Whenuapai Airbase is also touched on in the report. “We have always said that Whenuapai would be a secondary, primarily domestic, airport hub. That fits with what the report says,” says Mayor Harvey.

The Regional Economic Development Forum will consider the draft recommendations over the next couple of weeks, with the final report due in July.

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