Forum seeks a leading role

Michael Barnett believes his group is a ready-made vehicle to help build a greater Auckland. Photo / Northern Advocate

The Auckland Regional Economic Development Forum has asked Prime Minister John Key if it can be the lead agency to develop an economic development plan for greater Auckland.

Chairman Michael Barnett has proposed the forum be co-opted to help the Government and the Auckland Governance Establishment Board prepare a single economic plan for the region - a Government requirement before a region-wide development agency is appointed as part of the transition to a super city.

Barnett says the forum has shown itself to be a "ready-made vehicle" to undertake the required work with appropriate professionalism, speed and urgency.

"I applaud the Government's prompt decision to approve the preparation of a single economic development plan for the region," he told the PM in a letter.

"I believe from previous discussions with you and colleagues that it will be equally important for Government to establish an action-led approach and organisation dedicated to improving Auckland's international competitiveness."

He says the approach used by the Metro Project and overseen by the forum is described by the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance as a "successful" example of the process it believes is required for preparing the plan.

"In other words, there is no need to reinvent the 'planning' process yet again, when there is an already proven and mandated Auckland-led collaborative process that was widely seen - including by an international peer review - as a well grounded and thorough consultation process. To do so would potentially expose the government to the risk of being seen to be repeating what has already been done."

If the forum becomes a lead agency for developing the economic plan, it will probably secure the future in some form for the Auckland Regional Council's economic development unit, AucklandPlus, which Barnett chairs and which reports to the Auckland Regional Economic Development Forum.

But any region-wide economic plan, if it is to gain wide acceptance, will need to draw on other economic planning done by the seven city and district councils that at present govern the Auckland region. Only last year, Auckland City Council adopted its own economic development strategy, which has a strong regional focus.

Karen Lyons, group manager in the council's strategy office, says Auckland city's strategy takes account of issues that affect the region such as transportation, development of the central business district and the need for a convention centre.

"All the councils have plans and strategies and would be better to take the best out of these," she says.

"For the city council a lot of our work in the development area has been regional ... It would not make much sense to move into the new arrangement without the Auckland City Council input."

Despite uncertainties over the shape of the super city, AucklandPlus group manager Clyde Rogers is confident his $4 million agency will survive in some form when the fine print of Auckland's governance becomes known.

AucklandPlus, despite being part of the soon-to-be-axed Auckland Regional Council, has been careful to separate itself from the parochial graveyard of local body politics. And Rogers himself, although he previously worked with anti-amalgamation Waitakere City Council, is a proponent of the super city.

"This is an opportunity. It is about getting resources better aligned, getting the actual game plan more focused and getting things right that are important," he says.

Much of Auckland Plus' work since 2006 has been done with a super city in mind. It was the lead player in the development of the Metro Project Action Plan, the vehicle driving the Auckland Regional Economic Development Strategy, and has been guided by the Economic Futures Project that seeks to identify the size and shape of the Auckland economy, based on past trends, between now and 2031.

Rogers says the royal commission called for the creation of a well-funded regional economic development agency but he accepts that the Government wants a region-wide development plan in place first. (Auckland councils have been working toward developing the so-called One Plan for the past two years.)

Rogers says he is happy with the Government approach and believes the Metro Project Action plan will provide a "template for the future".

He concedes that there are too many ad hoc agencies operating in Auckland and local government reorganisation is an opportunity to streamline the system.

"You have got a bit of agency 'clutter' and the aim is to get everyone singing from the same song sheet."

AucklandPlus' most important tasks have not changed from those it spelled out shortly after the Metro Project Action Plan was launched in 2006, namely to:

promote the region to attract national and international business;

act as a single point of contact for current and potential investors, including information management and communications, promotion, inquiry response and aftercare; and

facilitate regional economic development projects (large multi-agency, cross-boundary projects that receive external funding).

A key event, the 2011 Rugby World Cup, has taken on new significance now that Auckland will host 25 per cent of the matches and because of the confidence it is expected to inject in the ailing economy.

Auckland City Council chief executive David Rankin has no doubt the tournament has come at an ideal time for Auckland.

"We should be through the worst of the recession and coming out the other end. I think [Rugby World Cup] will be a great fillip," he says. "I think more and more people are seeing it as much more than a set of rugby games. It is a festival."

That view is shared by AucklandPlus, which is working on three main areas to boost the economic benefits of the World Cup - creating business opportunities, attracting investors and developing skills (story, page 3).

But AucklandPlus' planning extends well beyond rugby. It must take account of the Economic Futures Project commissioned by Auckland Regional Council to predict the shape of the Auckland regional economy as far out as 2031.

Prepared using a model developed by Market Economics Ltd, the project measures economic inputs and outputs based on consumption patterns between 48 industry sectors such as what is spent by agriculture on manufactured products or what is bought by the fishing sector by restaurants and bars.

The Auckland region, which has 32.4 per cent of the population, today contributes about 35 per cent of New Zealand's gross domestic profit. It is also the dominant centre of commercial activity, port trade (air and sea), transportation and is the country's tourism gateway.

The shape of the regional economy over the next 22 years - the period being looked at by the Economic Futures Project - is not expected to be significantly different to today's although growth in key sectors poses challenges to education, business and local and central government and the environment.

Key sector growth prospects between 2006, when the project began, and 2031 are:

information and communications technology - 60 per cent growth in jobs generating $5.3 billion;

* creative - 100 per cent growth in jobs generating $3.2 billion;

* digital - nearly 65 per cent growth in jobs generating $4.7 billion;

* marine - 50 per cent growth in jobs generating $3.4 billion;

* food and beverage - 60 per cent growth in jobs generating $3 billion;

* tourism - 66 per cent growth in jobs generating $4.7 billion;

* transport and logistics - 50 per cent growth in jobs generating $4 billion;

* advanced materials - 30 per cent growth in jobs generating $2 billion; and

* biotechnology - 23 per cent growth in jobs.

The Economic Futures Project's latest report predicts the largest sector in 2031, as now, will be business services followed by wholesale, retail, finance, real estate and health and community services.

"Overall, demand for semi-to highly skilled occupations is on the rise," the report notes, "Legislators, administrators and managers, professionals and technicians and associate professionals will represent [more than] 50 per cent of occupations in 2031.

"Many of these jobs will be in the business services, retail, wholesale, education and health and community services sectors. On the other hand, the most significant decline is expected to occur in the clerks and agriculture and fisheries workers' categories."