Tauranga mayoral race: Jos Nagels on a sustainable future

Jos Nagels is running to be Tauranga's mayor and standing in the Bethlehem ward.

In July, the people of Tauranga will choose who will be running their city for the first time in five years. A mayor and nine councillors will replace the four-person commission that has been in place since February 2021. To keep people informed ahead of the election on July 20, Local Democracy Reporting asked the 15 mayoral candidates their thoughts on four topics. Over the next few weeks, readers will hear from each of the mayoral candidates.

Jos Nagels is a retired civil design engineer. He also established a solar energy business in 2002 which has since been sold to new owners. In his 70s, Nagels is married to Pauline, has three adult children and lives in Bethlehem.

He said his relevant experience with regard to local government was working for Tauranga City Council from 1976 until 2000 as a civil engineer. He worked on water services and roading projects, including the Ngatai Rd underpass in Ōtūmoetai.

Nagels is running for mayor and standing in the Bethlehem ward.

Tauranga is the least affordable city in New Zealand because of an infrastructure and housing deficit. How would you address this?

Keeping Tauranga affordable means doing things differently - employing workable, common-sense, unified strategies of proven, benevolent long-term solutions. Tauranga’s 2024-34 Long-Term Plan entraps total road dependency aligned with urban sprawl, which is the most expensive form of human habitation in human history.

Transitioning from such outmoded 1960s-era transportation and housing plans utilising intensification to 21st-century multi-modal rail transit is logical for Tauranga. Better choices enacted everywhere. No excuses.

What would you do to keep young adults in Tauranga and attract others to the city?

To attract and retain young and people of all ages, Tauranga must reconfigure for an affordable future. A place offering opportunities, easy access to employment and housing. [We must] transition from a consumerist economy [heading to extinction] in a climate emergency to a robust healthy economy.

Reducing emissions is in part seamlessly accomplished by choosing multi-modal electrified passenger rail transit - trams/light rail featuring 20th-century technologies.

This would ensure wellbeing, greater social equity and equality, and key governance responsibilities for the greater public good. [We must] provide the best-value investments compared to costly, obsolete roading liabilities.

Tauranga will have its first Māori ward this election. The Government plans to require councils to hold a binding referendum on Māori wards established after March 2021. Meaning the Te Awanui Māori ward could only be in place for one term. Given the change in Government policy, is it important for Tauranga to keep this ward?

As this is the first election with a Māori ward covering Tauranga in its entirety, it will be important to evaluate how it functions in its role to shape future directions. Improvements will positively evolve over the course of time.

Hypothetically, if Tauranga won the Lotto and there was no budget, what big-ticket item would you want for the city? Excluding infrastructure, like roads and water services and housing.

If Tauranga won an unlimited budget, the priority investment is sustainability and training young people to ensure future livability for all generations.

I would halt Tauranga’s present road-centric 1960′s trajectory, seek confirming advice from world-renowned sustainable planners, and thus manage the staged transition of Tauranga into the 21st century.

Better things are possible. We don’t have to reinvent, just copy or use “off-the-shelf” technologies and examples.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.