Local Government Unification debate welcomed by Chamber

The Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce & Industry welcomes the Local Government Commissioners report on Local Government Amalgamation. "It has been a long time coming, says Chamber President Helen Down and we welcome the opportunity for the real debate to begin".

"Our business community has a very real interest in this debate as across the region business pays 28% of the rates. Local Government Unification is an important issue for the region’s business owners and we will be surveying our members to gauge their response to this proposal and their level of support for it. Our member's key concern will no doubt be the strategic direction and council leadership. The performance of local government directly impacts the economic growth of the region, and is crucial part of making our local environment attractive to businesses and can have a big impact on their operations. “says Helen Down.

"The Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce enjoys strong links throughout the wider business community across the entire Wellington Region and it looks forward to providing a voice for its members on this issue “says Chamber Chief Executive Mark Futter. “It's important that this voice is heard and is representative of all types of businesses across all business sectors including manufacturing, distribution, exporting, education, hospitality, tourism, service industries, professional services and our extremely strong base of small and medium enterprises (SME's)."

The Region contributes 13.5 per cent of national GDP, provides 11.5 per cent of national employment and is home to 11 per cent of New Zealand's population. While economic activity in Wellington is now expanding the region has not performed as well as New Zealand as a whole in the last quarter. The picture is mixed and reflects the uncertainty business has, just a few examples:

* Employment in the Wellington Region has weakened in the last quarter, yet on the other hand online job advertising posted the second fastest increase in the past 3 months.

* There is a paradox that Wellington consumers are amongst the most buoyant in the country, but are not reflecting this in their spending habits -Wellington retail sales volumes for September quarter were down 1.2 percent ($23 million)

* Wellington is relatively prosperous, with the second-highest GDP per capita after Taranaki, well above that of Auckland and Canterbury.

* Employment growth has been 1.3% compared to NZ's 1.5%

Our Chamber Board believes that while no-one can guarantee that a united Council will be the panacea for the Region economically, we do however as a Region of vested stake holders need to look and learn from the Auckland experience of being given the solution and a process which included unrealistic timing for implementation resulting mistakes being made.

“Learnings from the Auckland experience must be taken on board should the Wellington Region move in the same direction. We should also be wary of judging early what the best outcome for the Wellington Region is “says Helen Down.

We look forward to engaging with the business community and bringing their perspectives to this debate in the next few weeks and to sharing our findings with the community at large.

Ends.

© Scoop Media