1. Run that by me again
Here’s a quick recap of what we’ve been doing.
In August this year the Wellington Regional Strategy Forum, made up of representatives of the nine councils from the Greater Wellington area, launched a ‘Growth Framework’ discussion document. This represented initial thinking on what the final regional strategy might contain bearing in mind the goal to “build an internationally competitive Wellington by developing and implementing a vision and an integrated framework to achieve sustainable growth for the Wellington region”.
Our private sector, voluntary sector, and central government Strategic Partners Forum (SPF) helped with the ideas in the discussion document. The SPF comprises over 50 major businesses and institutions within the region.
Submissions were received from 420 interested parties. These submissions have been analysed and Wellington Regional Strategy teams are now incorporating this feedback into work on the draft strategy for the region. This detailed draft strategy will be released for feedback mid-2006.
2. Region supports growth but don’t mess with lifestyle
We wanted to be sure we had a statistically reliable view of what you thought of the Growth Framework, especially the four focus areas (detailed below). So, in addition to the 420 submissions received, we sought views from 1500 individuals and businesses in the region. This was done via a mail survey of people in the Kapiti, Porirua, Wairarapa, Upper Hutt, Lower Hutt, and Wellington City areas.
The survey included 54 statements to enable us to assess the extent to which people agreed or disagreed with what was proposed.
The most popular of the 54 statements read “It is really important to look after the natural environment in our region”. The average level of agreement with this statement was 4.38 on a scale where 5 = strongly agree and 1 = strongly disagree. In fact six of the ten most popular statements related to quality of life in some form. For example the third most popular statement was “Successful economic development doesn’t just mean higher incomes - quality of life is important too.”
Themes relating to the regional economy were also apparent. Respondents strongly agreed that action should be taken “to encourage skilled people to remain in the region”, and that “it is important to have a strong and prosperous Wellington City CBD”. Respondents also agreed “ it is important to strengthen and further develop centres (e.g. Porirua, Johnsonville, Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt, Paraparaumu & Masterton).” These statements rated a ‘4’ on the 1-5 agreement scale.
In other words respondents are saying, ‘yes we want a strong economy, but don’t mess with our quality of life.’ Striking a balance between these two is a key aim of the strategy. We won’t be successful if we focus solely on the economy, and we won’t be successful if we just focus on quality of life.
Respondents also want to see greater cooperation between councils : “Councils in the region need to work together to develop more consistent policies and services” and “Councils should get together to make strategic land use decisions on a region-wide basis”. Agreement among respondents averaged 4.2 and 4.1 respectively.
The survey didn’t elicit any strongly negative views, but some resulted in a clear split between those who agreed and those who disagreed. The statement with the biggest spread of responses was: “Regional policies should aim to increase our population by 33 percent (one-third) by 2025”. For this statement 27 percent agreed, 39 percent were neutral and 34 percent disagreed.
The full report can be viewed here...
3. Four focus areas
The Forum highlighted four key areas for the region to focus on if it’s to achieve strong economic growth.
Effective leadership and partnerships recognises that successful regions invariably have innovative and strong collaborative leadership. This includes local government, central government and the private and voluntary sectors. The team leader who will develop this focus area through the next stage is Greater Wellington’s Manager of Corporate Policy John Allard.
Quality regional form and systems means towns and cities that are well designed, have good accessibility to jobs, entertainment, shopping and recreation, and have a strong sense of community and personal safety. It involves the range of economic, social and cultural interactions within the region and the ways in which our road, rail, communication and water systems influence (or are influenced by) regional form. Team leader for this focus area is Jane Gunn, Director of policy development and resource management specialists, Enfocus Consulting Ltd.
Unlocking the region’s economic potential is a core focus area. This team is lead by CEO of Positively Wellington Business, Phil Lewin
Internationalisation refers to the extent to which we are successful in selling our region and our goods and services to the world, and our success in attracting tourists. This team will be lead by Hutt City’s General Manager of Strategic Development, Kim Kelly.
4. Quick wins
Several ‘quick wins’ have been highlighted. These are initiatives that don’t need to wait for the strategy to be finalised. In some cases they have been triggered by working with stakeholders. In others it has become clear that supporting pre-existing projects, that align to key ideas from our research, makes sense and avoids delays.
Long haul strategy
Currently visitors to and from Wellington must go via Auckland or Christchurch for direct travel to destinations such as Asia (e.g. Singapore and Hong Kong). This is because the Wellington airport runway isn’t long enough for the large passenger planes. However, new technology from Boeing and Airbus is resulting in new, smaller, long haul aircraft that can land on shorter runways. These planes are due to be commissioned in 2008. The challenge for the region is to ensure the airlines which purchase these craft include Wellington as one of their long haul destinations. The Wellington Regional Strategy Forum is actively supporting Positively Wellington Tourism and Wellington Airport in negotiations with the airlines to bring this about.
Wellington region labour force strategy
A well functioning labour force is one that’s closely aligned to the skill and productivity requirements of the region’s businesses. A major change that has occurred in the workforce is a reduction in unemployment. This means a change in strategy. The emphasis is moving from getting people into jobs, to ensuring high quality employment and the productivity gains that come with it. The Forum is working in partnership with the Department of Labour to ensure this happens with a draft strategy due to be released in February 2006.
Successful cities and regions have good urban design
Background research demonstrates that successful cities and regions have the dual characteristics of good employment prospects and great urban design. In other words people need to enjoy living here and have satisfying careers. The Forum has partnered with the Ministry of Environment to develop recommendations for implementing best practice around urban development and growth management. Their conclusions will be available in March 2006.
New product design and development centre
In September, Positively Wellington Business announced initial funding from New Zealand Trade & Enterprise (NZTE) for a regional Industry Development Centre. The Centre, likely to be located in Hutt City, will provide a one stop shop for the development of new manufacturing products with significant export potential. Before the end of June 2006 a business case incorporating private company support will be presented to NZTE for final funding.
The Centre will bring together expertise in research, development, commercialisation and offshore marketing capability to support manufacturers in the region. It is anticipated that partnerships will be formed with several such manufacturers when the Centre opens in the latter half of 2006.
5. What happens next?
We’ve been developing the Wellington Regional Strategy in two stages. The first stage was completed in September when submissions were received on the Growth Framework discussion document and the Forum agreed that the responses provided a mandate for proceeding to the next phase. These submissions are now being factored into the second stage – the development of the strategy proper. This process will be undertaken by the team leaders with input from the Project Executive Group. The draft strategy will be available for public input in July next year with the final document due for release in September 2005.
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