"It is the local candidates of the parties currently in parliament. We recognise that the party leaders are talking about some of New Zealand's bigger topics.
"We want to give this a local flavour and talk about the Western Bay of Plenty economy and identify some key local issues rather than repeat the party lines on nationwide topics. We want to really focus on what the election means from Tauranga and Western Bay communities."
Cowley said the debate would be "quite fast paced", giving fairly strict time limits for each candidate to have their say.
Alert level restrictions mean only 100 people are allowed at the event and all allocated seating has been taken. However, anyone interested can tune in to the live stream here.
It will also be available to watch after the debate.
"I don't think it will be boring by an means," Cowley said.
"Tauranga is changing rather rapidly and I would say on the back of Covid-19 and how New Zealand will recover, it's quite important to have a local lens and find out who people should be voting for at a local level."
