Putting the Regional Back into Economic Development

Northland Regional Council candidate, Bronwyn Hunt, today raised her concerns regarding the way the current regional council has treated Enterprise Northland, and the consequences of that in terms of truly-regional development.

“A strong and credible economic development agency is vital for the North. Central Government funding for economic development is both contestable and allocated on a regional basis. To get our fair share we need Enterprise Northland to be punching above its weight. In the past it was able to do that, but changes made by the current regional council have torn the organisation apart.”

“It has almost been colonised by NRC and turned into another department in its bureaucracy. What had made Enterprise Northland among the best performing economic development agencies was its independence. For no good reason the current council has seen fit to dismantle that.”

“Disturbingly, all of the present Trustees are Whangarei-based. There use to be a regional spread of Directors, but the actions taken by the current Council have turned it into a Whanagrei centric organisation.

This is not good enough, and the current Far North members of the regional council should be ashamed that they have let this happen.”

Standing on the ‘Go Northland’ ticket, Jane Hindle and I have significant experience in economic development, and we can help fix this.

“If I am elected to the regional council, I will see it as a priority to sort this mess out. I will work as hard as I can to put the regional back into economic development, to recreate Enterprise Northland as a credible economic development agency.”

“Northland needs an economic development agency that has the high level of credibility that Enterprise Northland once had. The Go Northland team has the skills and experience to make that happen,” Bronwyn Hunt said.

ENDS

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