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Committed to Business Development and Growth
Rotorua Chamber of Commerce holds the Sub-contract to provide business capability development support in Central and Eastern Bay of Plenty.

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Population Growth
Last week I had forwarded to me a paper presented to the Bay of Plenty Regional Council on the Significant Growth and Demand Assumptions in preparation for the Regional Council Ten Year Plan. The key information included in this paper are the population growth predictions for the sub-regions of the Bay of Plenty.
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Chian Town
I had the opportunity last week to attend the Asia Pacific Cities Summit in Brisbane The conference had the theme, The Business of Cities and featured three concurrent sessions. I attended the stream focussed on the Business of Growing Cities.
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Essential Guide
The Chamber has been very active during these last two weeks in preparing one of its major annual publications .
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Holiday plus wages
As this article goes to print, I will have just one more sleep before I leave on a couple of weeks annual leave. I'm off to Brisbane for my daughter to present Jo and I with another grandchild. After three grandsons in our family, we are hoping for a baby boy, but to be honest, not really worried. More worried about getting back in to the habit of picking a little bundle up and being worried I'm not going to break it.
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District Plan
Two weeks ago the Rotorua District Council announced that it will extend the informal consultation period for the draft District Plan until the end of July. This informal discussion on the draft document is not required under legislation but doing it will allow Council to identify some of the issues before it enters the formal protracted process.
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Positive vibes from meetings
Last week I attended three very interesting meetings that really set my mind thinking.
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Develoment Contributions
I enjoyed the opportunity to present our submission to the Annual Plan on behalf of our members. I have outlined in my article over the last two weeks a number of the points of the submission. Thank you to those that have contacted me to express their support of the issues raised. It's great to get that feedback and I encourage anyone to contact me on ceo@rotoruachamber.co.nz should they wish to share their views.
This week I would like to address another couple of recommendations from the submission.

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Kia Ora the Essential Guide
I have enjoyed the Easter break this year. Quality time to spend with my family over in Cambridge. I played my 11 year old Grandson at badminton and my mind thought that it was thirty years younger than my body. The truth came to me with a real vengeance as I hit the floor trying to reach a shot that I realistically had absolutely no chance of getting.
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Cycling Centre of Excellence
A couple of major events during last week that warrant a mention.
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LWQS Symposium
Last week I attended the Lakes Water Quality Symposium at the Rotorua Convention Centre. I found the two days extremely interesting and worthwhile. Well done to the LWQS for organizing such a professional event. The theme for the symposium Fix a Lake and Grow a City reflected the inclusion on the second day of a focus on the synergy between driving economic growth for Rotorua and restoration of the quality of the Lakes. There is no doubt that the amenity value of being the ‘Lakes District of New Zealand' will act as a strong pull factor bringing new residents to our city.
The first day focused on the current achievement towards the quality targets for the eleven lakes in the region, some of the current strategies adopted and further challenges being addressed. I was pleased to hear the positive gains that had been made in many of the Lakes. However, much of the discussion targeted ‘slaying the monster', Lake Rotorua remains the main challenge.

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Westpac Business Awards
The entry period for the Westpac Rotorua Business Excellence Awards officially opened on Monday 4 April. This follows a very successful two month period that attracted nearly 250 nominations across the six business award categories (Pukeroa Oruawhata Holdings Retail, Unison Service Provider, Daily Post Hospitality and Attractions, Lockwood Manufacturing and Trade, Destination Rotorua Economic Development Emerging Business and Newstalk Community Organisation) and the Trust Power Social Responsibility Award. The nomination process is the opportunity for the general public to propose their favourite business or organisation for consideration. Those that receive most nominations are invited to submit a formal entry. It is not essential to be nominated, businesses can also enter directly. The past couple of years have seen approximately half of the entries coming from those organisations that had been nominated.
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Change the Rates Model
Last week I shared my views on the need to review the RDC budget and the manner in which it provides certain services. As a follow on to that article, this week I would like to comment on the second phase of the rates discussion., the model used to allocate the rates amongst ratepayer groups. Once the budget has been determined a complicated model shares the burden amongst the ratepayers. The generation of rates income is a combination of UAGC (a standard charge to all), the general rate (with a differential that is applied allocating different proportions to different ratepayer groups) and a series of targeted rates (such as those for sewerage, water and the business targeted rate).
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Review the budget
There was an interesting letter to the editor last week, suggesting that I was being a little hypocritical. On the one hand I supported the inclusion of the airport infrastructural interest in the rates, and then decried the large increase in rates on business. I can understand how it seems that way, and it does justify an explanation.
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Rates Decision
Last week I was very critical of Rotorua District Council's decision over the single caterer for the Convention Centre. I am disappointed to have to make a negative comment again, this time regarding the proposed rates increases. At the start of the year I felt very positive about the excellent moves Council had made with the Tourism Standing Committee, the reorganisation of the groups within council and the work on the re-alignment of the economic strategic plan. But the recent decisions about a single caterer and the proposed rates increase appear to be moves against getting our economy moving.
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