Entrepreneurs need help to navigate GDC processes

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

As the council delivered a clear message last week for Activate Tairawhiti and Tourism Eastland to “get on” with amalgamation and deliver a unified voice to promote the region and develop opportunities, two councillors touched on an issue that seems to have worsened in recent years — dissatisfaction from event organisers and businesses over their engagement with the council.

Larry Foster said there was a need for an events structure and a “streamlined entity” to co-ordinate events and processes.

Brian Wilson said one role of the former economic development unit was helping businesses and event organisers navigate their way through council processes, something that wasn’t being done now the district had a stand-alone economic development agency.

Ask any business person involved in a development lately about their experiences with the council, and chances are they will be less than flattering. Of course, it is the council’s job to ensure regulations are followed — but it is also its job, as an economic enabler for the district, to do so efficiently and supportively.

Mr Foster has met and heard from many “disillusioned” event organisers lately, and says this about their common experiences:

“Almost every event run in our region has major problems with compliance, licensing issues etc, and who to go to for assistance. They end up going from one place to another without any clear direction or point of contact.”

He rightly adds, “these people are our precious entrepreneurs and our customers who need our assistance, not brick walls”.

Mr Foster believes an agency or role sitting within the business hub at Activate Tairawhiti — then in the amalgamated organisation, co-funded by it, the council and Heart of Gisborne — should be formed to act on behalf of event organisers through all the issues they need resolved to run a successful event. He says it could also actively encourage events and city-centre promotion.

“Putting this agency outside the immediate council environment enables clearer channels to be established, no duplication, and less staff time.”