Sustainable Bay of Plenty Trust is calling on the BOP Regional Council to have a frank and open discussion with BOP residents about its SmartGrowth plans for Tauranga and the state of public transport in the region.

Sustainable BOP was commenting on the Regional Council’s announcement that the council will not undertake formal consultation on its 2023-24 Annual Plan. The Trust’s Executive Director Glen Crowther stated: “We understand why the council decided just to engage and not formally consult, and there are cost savings from taking that approach.”

The decision could be seen as further eroding community engagement in Tauranga, after Tauranga City Council also decided not to consult on in its Annual Plan (including a number of ‘hot’ topics for local communities), although the Regional Council plans are not as controversial as TCC’s.

However, Sustainable BOP believes the Regional Council does need to undertake urgent engagement on two key issues.

One is SmartGrowth’s plan for Tauranga to sprawl up the Kaimai, over the Wairoa River to Te Puna, and all the way to Paengaroa, without either passenger rail or a rapid bus system. When the community Forums again questioned the plan in 2022, SmartGrowth scrapped all those Forums and voted for no public consultation on the spatial plan.

“Why are our Regional Councillors not voting against the current SmartGrowth plan for more sprawling, high carbon suburbs in unsuitable locations? Especially when there are no plans for reliable rapid bus services between the key hubs?

Congestion is the number one issue facing Tauranga and it will get far, far worse under this plan. Yet Regional Council seems to be rubber stamping the plans, despite no public consultation or mandate.”

What’s more, central government recently granted Tauranga City Council a five year exemption (to December 2027) that allows developers to build on swampy land in the Western BOP – Tauriko and Te Tumu in particular.

“Will Regional Council use its power to block developers trying to use the exemption to build on swamps? This exemption was confirmed at the same time we saw the impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle on housing developments built on similar swamp land, so why would they sign that off?

Ratepayers are already effectively subsidising developers and land bankers, at the expense of local communities, and this will only make that worse.

We need to shift to a more sustainable, affordable, low carbon model of urban development. And we need our Regional Councillors to clearly explain to local communities why they’re not able to make that happen.”

The other issue is the public transport crisis. Costs have escalated far beyond expectation, the impacts of Covid and especially bus driver shortages are causing huge problems, and adult bus patronage is massively down from five years ago.

Crowther said “There are still many delayed or cancelled services, despite all the weekday buses running on weekend timetables, and we are still waiting for the visible signs of most of the long-promised new bus shelters and other bus infrastructure.”

“After central government announced last week that public transport will only be prioritised in the five main centres, including Tauranga, where does that leave Rotorua’s planned upgraded bus service? And what about Whakatane, which hoped to introduce a bus service to meet community needs?”

BOP Regional Council has undertaken some excellent community engagement in the past, so Sustainable BOP is calling for comprehensive engagement in the next few months on these two crucial issues.

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