1% - Waikato District Council

16NAVIGATING THE FUTURE | WAIKATO DISTRICT COUNCILFuture Proof outlines a vision of thriving towns and ruralcommunities; protection and sustainable use of our naturalresources; affordable and sustainable infrastructure and stronggovernance and partnerships. Its forecasts are based onpredictions of high growth – that the population will doublein the next 50 years. However in response to other changesaffecting growth, such as the impact of the global economic crisis,Future Proof partners have selected a more conservative growthscenario for the purpose of their long term plans.This Long Term Plan provides for the infrastructure and amenitieswe need to ensure our growth is sustainable and affordable.A vibrant and sustainable WaikatoThe Waikato District Growth Strategy helps us make the FutureProof vision a reality, addressing issues our district faces.Waikato district is at the heart of the ‘Golden Triangle.’ Wewant it to be a strong heart - a district with energy and vitality.Managing our natural resources - especially with changes inour climate that affect our pastoral and dairy industries – callsfor leadership and innovative thinking within the council, ourpartners and the wider community.We will be working, to define and develop a strong andcompetitive environment for these industries and others suchas tourism, transport and manufacturing. This will have a stronginfluence on the three key issues influencing population andeconomic growth:• Increasing growth pressure from outside the district• Continued improvements to transport routes, in particularthe Waikato Expressway• The economic influence of Auckland, Hamilton and TaurangaWe want to revitalise our towns and villages to make the mostof the amenities and infrastructure we have already (roads,water and wastewater systems, leisure and recreational servicesetc), as well as reducing traffic congestion and helping increaseemployment.At the same time, the rural land that provides a strongeconomic base for the district, and which has a lot of potentialfor more production, needs to be protected. In 2011 we askedfor your feedback on a variation to our District Plan (PlanChange 2), which will guide our district’s growth, particularlyin our rural and coastal areas. This is part of our strategyto meet the challenges of growth, while still protecting ourland, waterways and wetlands, and encouraging sustainabledevelopment.Structure plans help to better plan and co-ordinate how townsand their surrounding areas will expand. These will providemore certainty for developers and local communities aboutfuture development. You can read more about structure planson page 76 of this plan under Sustainable Environment.Economic summitWhat we do now, determines our future. So, it’s up to all ofus to decide what our future will be. In November 2011, thecouncil hosted an economic summit, to bring our industryleaders, innovators and the council together to help us shapean economic strategy for the Waikato district.Creating this future is about everyone working together onthe big picture, ironing out the details, and making connections.What came out of that day was that we as a council must bean enabler – to create the environment so that everyone cancontribute to our economic development. This will be vital forour long-term future sustainability.Partnership to create synergies between industries,communities, government and local government is essential toensure industry growth and generate more export products.We have started down this path with our partnership withWaikato Tainui through the Joint Management Agreement toco-manage and restore the Waikato River, and to enhanceour relationship in areas of common interest.We want to take this style of working in partnership further,to help develop connections between businesses, betweenbusinesses and the council, aligning our plans and priorities.To do this, we are putting funding towards economicdevelopment including specific projects and an in-houseresource. This will help us create opportunities and energy; abusiness-friendly approach to enable business and industry toestablish their businesses in Waikato district, removing barriersand constraints; telling our story so people will want to visitand work and live here.More details about how we’re investing in our economicdevelopment are on page 87 in the Sustainable CommunitiesGroup of Activities.