A focus on wellbeing and responding to climate change is woven through six priorities adopted in Waikato Regional Council’s updated strategic direction.

The previous 10-year strategy was used as a starting point for the review, with the environmental issues that matter most to communities – water, biodiversity and biosecurity, and coastal marine – each remaining a priority.

However, three other priorities from the previous strategic direction – climate, transport connections and sustainable infrastructure – have been evolved to enable the council and the region to better respond to the forces of change.

• Climate becomes ‘Transition to a low emission economy’ to provide clearer direction on what we need to achieve.
• Sustainable infrastructure evolves to ‘Sustainable development and infrastructure’ to account for the need for infrastructure to serve long term community wellbeing. This priority will focus on increasing community resilience and envisaging and responding to environmental, social and economic shifts over the next 30, 50, 100 years.
• Transport connections becomes ‘Community connections’ to reflect the need to respond to wider social and economic issues, of which transport is an enabler connecting people with each other, and to recreational and educational opportunities, health and social services.

Called Takatū Waikato | Making a stand for the Waikato, the strategic direction for 2023-25 is a non-statutory document that provides useful guidance to iwi partners, stakeholders, the public and staff on the council’s priorities and goals.

Waikato Regional Council Chair Pamela Storey said: “We’ve developed new goals that deliver on our priorities. They’re ambitious, and with that comes responsibility to do things differently, recognising cost of living pressures are top of mind for many right now.

“This pivotal document will help to focus discussions, guide work programmes and prioritise activities in the long term plan, which we’re about to get started on.”

The strategic direction signals the council’s intention to proactively respond to the impacts of climate change and initiate changes during this triennium that will establish the platform for a more resilient, environmentally sustainable, socially cohesive and prosperous region.

“It’s clear from the feedback we’ve received that people support the priorities. As we’ve worked on our new goals to deliver on these priorities, we’ve taken on board suggestions that strengthen our overall direction.

“We’ve also received some well considered recommendations for actions. Many of them are already in train or will be considered for inclusion in the development of the long term plan, due to be adopted in June next year,” said Cr Storey.

Further workshops will be held with iwi partners to co-design actions to achieve the goals.

Legislation requires councils to improve the social, economic, environmental and cultural wellbeing of their communities. This has been embedded and defined in the council’s purpose: Working together for a Waikato region that has a healthy environment, vibrant communities and strong economy.

You can read the strategic direction online: waikatoregion.govt.nz/strategic-direction.

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