The Canterbury Mayoral Forum launched its Plan for Canterbury on Friday (4 September 2020).

The Plan sets out the Mayoral Forum’s vision for sustainable development in Canterbury – across all four aspects of wellbeing (environmental, economic, social and cultural).

For the remainder of this local government term (2020–22), the Forum will focus on five priorities where it can make a difference through leadership, advocacy and enabling partnerships.

• Sustainable environmental management of our habitats (land, air, water and ecosystems), focusing on land use and freshwater management.
• Shared economic prosperity – through sustainable, value-added primary production; high-value manufacturing; high-value tourism; growing, attracting and retaining a skilled workforce and attracting new businesses.
• Better freight transport options – mode shift to optimise movement of long-distance freight by rail and coastal shipping to improve road safety, decrease carbon emissions and reduce wear and tear on the region’s roads.
• Climate change mitigation and adaptation – reducing our carbon footprint, building community resilience and making our infrastructure as strong as it can be.
• Three Waters services – securing safe drinking-water supplies, and ensuring that infrastructure, institutional arrangements and regulation enable the sustainable management of drinking water, wastewater and storm water in Canterbury.

The

Plan for Canterbury

replaces the

Canterbury Regional Economic Development Strategy

(CREDS) led by the Forum since 2015.

Forum chair, Mayor Sam Broughton, reflected that just as the CREDS was shaped by the Canterbury earthquakes and their aftermath, the

Plan for Canterbury

has been developed in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This plan was due for release in May before COVID-19 interrupted our work on it. But we were clear on our priorities and long-term goals and these have shaped the Mayoral Forum’s approach to COVID-19 readiness, recovery and renewal.”

The

Plan for Canterbury

explains why the five issues are priorities for local government and how it will monitor whether its actions make a difference.

Mayor Broughton said: “Now more than ever, we need to work together here in Canterbury to achieve shared prosperity that does not leave anyone behind.”

The Plan has been published on the Forum’s website at:

https://www.canterburymayors.org.nz/mayoral-forums-plan-for-canterbury-2020-2022/

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