Tukituki MP Craig Foss says he has agreement and commitment from the region's mayors to work together to lift Hawke's Bay back up the ladders of economic and social well-being.
Mr Foss released a plan yesterday that set out "measurable economic and social targets" as far out as 2025. He said Craig Little, Bill Dalton, Lawrence Yule and Peter Butler - the mayors of Wairoa, Napier, Hastings, and Central Hawke's Bay, as well as Fenton Wilson, the chairman of the Hawke's Bay Regional Council, had agreed on the proposal and committed to achieving the targets by 2025.
It's by then he wants the Bay's economic performance to improve by at least 8 per cent - measured by the current GDP per capita in the region of $39,035, currently 82 per cent of the nationwide GDP per head of $47,532 - and job growth to catch-up with the current national rate of 1.5 per cent a year.
He also wants Hawke's Bay's road toll per 100,000 people cut to lower than the national rate by 2025, and he wants the region's crime rate cut by 15 per cent by 2017.
Mr Foss says the targets are achievable by councils working together and aligning with Government aspirations for the nation.
"It is good to present to the public that the mayors are on the same page," he says.
Saying the targets and time frames are ambitious, he believes it's "vitally important" the leaders create an environment to drive and deliver positive results enabling economic growth, enhanced community safety and ensuring our regional road network makes for safer journeys.
It would create the platform for higher wages and job growth in the region, he says. "I believe this is the first time in New Zealand that regional agreement for such targets has been achieved."
Napier's Mr Dalton and Opposition MP for Napier, Stuart Nash, lauded the move, saying.
It showed the mayors of the region could work together and it didn't take amalgamation to do it, they said.
Mr Dalton reckoned amalgamation of the region's councils would be an "absolute deterrent" because the mayors would do better focusing on needs in their own areas.
"It's a matter of having some aims and aspirations - when you don't, it just drags on and on," Mr Dalton said. "The targets are attainable."
But Labour Party Tukituki spokesperson Anna Lorck, who unsuccessfully challenged Mr Foss at this year's elections, says the targets (below) are not high enough, and are "mediocre and lack real ambition" for the region.
She said targets must be set as part of any plan for regional growth, but asked: "How much thought and effort has gone into this?"