Tauranga City Council transport boss Brendan Bisley leaves amid restructuring

Former Tauranga City Council director of transport Brendan Bisley. Photo / George Novak

Tauranga City Council’s transport director has left the organisation.

The Bay of Plenty Times can confirm former director of transport Brendan Bisley has taken redundancy amid an internal restructuring of the council’s transportation division.

Bisley was a spokesperson for many recent council-led transport projects in the city, including the Wairoa Bridge cycleway, Links Ave safety improvements and the first stage of the $92 million Cameron Rd project, due for completion this month.

A review of the Cameron Rd project released last week was critical of aspects of how it played out and offered the council 13 recommendations for future projects.

Bisley was involved in the Transport System Plan, a 30-year plan aimed at creating better and safer connections for people in the wider city through prioritisation of projects.

Bisley told the Bay of Plenty Times his role had been disestablished. He took redundancy and would return to the private sector in the new year, he said.

Bisley has a background in civil engineering and began working at the council in May 2020. He was now using up accrued annual leave.

Council chief executive Marty Grenfell said he could not comment on private employment matters, but could confirm Bisley no longer worked for the council.

Grenfell said the council was looking to make several changes in the governance arrangements for all projects in the Transport System Plan (TSP).

“This responds to the scale, complexity and costs involved, with the five most significant TSP projects planned over the next eight to 10 years requiring a total investment of more than $1.5 billion,” Grenfell said.

These five projects were the Papāmoa East interchange, Tauriko West enabling works, 15th Ave and Turret Rd, connecting Mount Maunganui and stage two of the Cameron Rd project.

“As part of that new approach, internal changes to accountabilities and resourcing are also being progressed through a proposed transportation division restructure process.”

A council spokesman said there was no date, at this stage, for when this restructuring was expected to be completed.

It was also too early to say how many people had already taken redundancy or how many roles were impacted, he said.

General manager of infrastructure Nic Johansson would head the council’s transportation division while the new structure was being put in place.

Kiri Gillespie is an assistant news director and a senior journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, specialising in local politics and city issues. She was a finalist for the Voyager Media Awards Regional Journalist of the Year award in 2021.