Waikato regional economic profile - Waikato Regional Council

WRC identified three flagship goals for the current council term to focus attention onand/or change its approach to these areas of its business, so as to deliver desiredoutcomes: The values of land and water resources are sustained across the Waikatoregion. The people of the region collaborate to achieve a shared vision of the Waikatocompeting globally, caring locally. WRC meets its legislative co-governance requirements with iwi for the WaikatoRiver by working together in good faith and a spirit of cooperation.The three flagship goals are connected and cut across social, economic, environmentaland cultural wellbeing, all groups of activities in the long term plan and functionalgroups within WRC.WRC’s mission 6 also recognises the linkages between the wellbeings of the LocalGovernment Act 2002 – particularly those between the economy and environment –and the need to ensure that actions today still enable social, economic, environmentaland cultural wellbeing to flourish for future generations. 7 WRC contributes to economicwellbeing in a number of ways through its activities:Flood protection schemes owned and maintained on the Lower Waikato, PiakoRiver and Waihou Valley in the Waikato region provide a direct protectionbenefit to 305,000 hectares of farmland. Transport planning services under the Land Transport Management Act 2003and Public Transport Management Act 2008 are important because economicwellbeing is supported by transport infrastructure such as roads, and publictransport services that reduce congestion. Regulation contributes to a secure operating environment for business andhelps achieve the allocative efficiency of natural resources, for example: theWaikato Regional Policy Statement – Geothermal Section and the WaikatoRegional Plan Variation 2 – Geothermal Module; and Waikato Regional PlanVariation 6, which will progressively introduce new policies and rules forallocating and using water in the region. Strategic collaboration: WRC is part of the Upper North Island StrategicAlliance, a long-term collaboration that also includes the Auckland Council, Bayof Plenty Regional Council, Northland Regional Council, Hamilton City Council,Tauranga City Council and Whangarei District Council for responding to andmanaging a range of inter-regional and inter-metropolitan issues.WRC is actively supporting the work of the Waikato Local Government Forum,which is made up of the WRC Chair and the mayors of the 11 territorialauthorities in the Waikato region. The forum is focusing on identifying thepotential for efficiencies within local government in the region. Information: WRC makes available publicly a wide range of resource andplanning information that can assist economic decision-making by firms. Thereis also demand from territorial authorities, business organisations and themedia amongst others for accurate, timely, easy-to-understand informationabout the regional economy. This profile and subsequent work will contribute tomeeting this.6“To provide regional leadership to balance economic and environmental outcomes to enable the social, economic,environmental and cultural wellbeing of current and future generations.”7The Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill introduced on 30 May 2012 removes reference to these linkages.Page 4 Doc #: 2069885