Home

July 2007 Issue - Printable version (473KB, pdf)

Tena koutou katoa, Warm Greetings!

The purpose of COBOP (Community Outcomes Bay of Plenty) is to promote and achieve local community outcomes, regional well-being and efficient use of resources.

Following on from our first newsletter edition in July here’s an update on COBOP progress...

ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION SUB GROUP

The Economic Transformation Sub Group contracted BERL (Business and Economic Research Limited) to complete a situation analysis of the region’s economy. This was released in July and the Sub Group reps have since met with BERL to discuss the content and recommendations. The task now is develop a Regional Economic Development Strategy (REDS) that focuses on areas where wider collaboration across the region will result in better outcomes than operating individually.

The recommendation is that the REDS should recognise the principles of sustainable development and foster innovation.

FORMATION OF THE BOP REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GOVERNANCE GROUP

A Bay of Plenty Regional Economic Development Governance Group is being established to:

Oversee the preparation and implementation of a sustainable regional development strategy for the Bay of Plenty region
Coordinate the promotion of the region to attract and settle new business and investment
Facilitate large, multi-agency, cross-boundary regional development projects.

A high calibre of business sector nominations were received for this Board. They will join representatives from each of the regional Economic Development Agencies and a COBOP representative. Successful nominees will be announced in early December.

Sub Group Reps

Christine Jones – Tauranga City Council
Geoff Williams – Ministry of Social Development
Tuahu Watene – Ministry of Social Development
Annie Ross – Ministry of Social Development
Barbara MacLennan – Department of Internal Affairs
Asher Nikora – Department of Labour
Andrew Coker – Priority One
Mary Hermanson – On behalf of Toi-EDA
Vaughan Payne – Opotiki District Council
Rachel Jones – Te Puni Kokiri
Wally Tangohau – Te Puni Kokiri
Anne McLeod – Taupo District Council
Andrew Williams – Taupo District Council
Lizzy Wiessing – Western Bay of Plenty District Council
Kathy Webb – Western Bay of Plenty District Council
Chandra Quarmby – Whakatane District Council
Julie Gardyne – Whakatane District Council
Chris Heywood – Rotorua District Council
Grant Kilby – Rotorua District Council
Amanda Scott – South Waikato District Council
Cheryl MacGregor – Environment BoP
Matt Cowley – Environment BoP

HOUSING SUB GROUP

The Affordable Housing Workshop held in September was attended by representatives from 18 local and central government, and third sector agencies. The objective was to develop and agree to key collaborative strategies and broad actions for affordable housing to bring forward into the COBOP Regional Housing Strategy.

Informative presentations were made from:

Terrence Aschoff from the Centre of Housing Research Aotearoa NZ (CHRANZ) about the recent affordability research that was completed in the Eastern and Western Bay of Plenty
Pauline Tangohau (Te Puni Kokiri) and Colin Bennett(Ministry of Social Development) – Maori and Housing
John Ridd (Taupo District Council) – Affordable housing model in Taupo
Ann Esler (Rotorua District Council) – Affordable Pensioner Housing

The workshop sessions that followed the presentations focused on affordability in regards to Maori and housing, housing in general and third sector housing. Key recommendations from these sessions will now be considered in the COBOP Regional Housing Strategy.

The sub group intends to host a housing forum for community organisations to present findings and receive their input into the strategy.

Sub Group Reps

Bee Macalister (Chair) – Housing NZ Corporation
Andries Cloete – Western Bay of Plenty District Council
Susan Jolley – Ministry for Social Development
Brian Pointon – Bay of Plenty District Health Board
Jenny Dowthwaite – Ministry for Social Development
Ann Esler – Rotorua District Council
John Ridd – Taupo District Council
Kevin Austin – Toi Te Ora Public Health
Heather Pearson – Lakes District Health Board
Pauline Tangohau – Te Puni Kōkiri
Colin Bennett – Ministry of Social Development
Kylie Ruegg – Toi Te Ora Public Health
Christine Johnstone – Tauranga Community Housing Trust

MONITORING AND REPORTING SUB GROUP

This sub group is working to streamline community outcomes monitoring and reporting processes. Environment Bay of Plenty has now developed an electronic shared database to collect indicator information under each set of community outcomes. Sub group members recently had the opportunity to view this database and were impressed with the functionality of this programme. This database enables councils to have a more efficient collection and storage process rather than them all carrying out a very time consuming task of individually collecting, providing and storing data.

Sub Group Reps

Anne O’Malley (Chair) – Tauranga City Council
Caroline Matangi – Rotorua District Council
Catherine Stedman – Whakatane District Council
Andrew Williams – Taupo District Council
Lizzy Wiessing – Western Bay of Plenty District Council
Wouter Vullings – Whakatane District Council
Gilmour Jamieson – Kawerau District Council
Faye Ryan – Bay of Plenty District Health Board
Keith Wright – Lakes District Health Board
Donna Adlam – Opotiki District Council
Bella Tait – Rotorua District Council

WORKPLACE WELLNESS HEHA PROJECT

The Healthy Communities Sub Group contracted Toi Te Ora – Public Health and Sport Bay of Plenty to complete a workplace wellness assessment of 21 COBOP member agencies through HEHA (Healthy Eating Healthy Action). Following the assessment, Sport Bay of Plenty made presentations to a number of regional local and central government agencies to further support them with being active and creating an environment which promotes good nutrition. They also provided motivational support and information which was well received. Participants were interested in concepts that have worked well in other agencies and the simplicity of implementing these workplace health initiatives (lunchtime walking groups, walking meetings etc). Discussions were had about the barriers to physical activity in the workplace and these conversations helped identify some easy solutions to overcome barriers in particular workplaces (eg access to bike racks, showers, flexi-time where appropriate).

Sub Group Reps

Heather Pearson (Chair) – Lakes District Health Board
Brian Pointon – Bay of Plenty District Health Board
Wendy Donaldson – Lakes District Health Board
Debbie Curgenven – Sport & Recreation NZ (SPARC)

Keen Opotiki District Council Staff: Vaughan Payne, Mike Houghton. Kneeling are John Rollo, James Croswell

Susan Jolley & Brandi Hudson

Kia ora koutou katoa
I was recently invited by the Bay Trust in Tauranga to give a presentation about COBOP. This was received very positively by the Trustees who applauded the initiative by local and central government agencies to work in partnership to address community outcomes. They were specifically interested in the work programmes and objectives of the COBOP sub groups so that they are aware and informed about the work that is happening across the region as they consider the many requests for funding of projects by the community.

The Housing Sub Group members have developed the first draft of the background document that will be used to inform the COBOP Regional Housing Strategy. This has been superbly led by Bee Macalister from Housing NZ who is forever encouraging and positive despite juggling a team of writers who were spread across the region and agencies. This document has drawn on many sources of research, data, information and agency perspectives. We have worked through issues raised in regards to the ‘Affordable Housing in the BOP Region’ research released by CHRANZ (Centre for Housing Research Aotearoa NZ) and recognise that the affordability of housing is a complex issue that is a high strategic priority for many local and central government agencies. Thanks to Taupo District Council who covered the fee to engage with a professional editor, Julie Slee who has done a marvellous job stitching all the chapters together.

Enjoy a safe and happy festive season everyone.