HQ move to go ahead

Environment Bay of Plenty has finalised a controversial plan to relocate its headquarters from Whakatane to Tauranga.

The regional council yesterday formally adopted the relocation plan, meaning 100 staff will be transferred from Whakatane and a new headquarters built in Tauranga.

About 70 staff will remain at Whakatane, down from 130.

Critics of the move say the loss of jobs in Whakatane will have a detrimental economic and social effect on the town and the wider eastern Bay of Plenty.