Rotorua and regional council win prestigious awards for contribution to the community

Rotorua Lakes Council and Bay of Plenty Regional Council have taken home prestigious local government excellence awards for their innovative contribution to the community.

The Rotorua Child Equity Programme was piloted at Sunset Primary School and provides access to activities, services and experiences that enhance health and wellbeing and can have life-changing implications into adulthood.

It was awarded the Minister of Local Government's Award for Innovation in Council/Community Relations by the NZ Society of Local Government Managers (SOLGM).

The category attracted a record 20 entries and was part of the 2020 McGredy Winder SOLGM Local Government Excellence Awards which were announced today.

The award is one of six categories and the judges praised the pilot as a successful community-based approach to well-being

SOLGM chief advisor Raymond Horan said this was the type of community-based solution that Parliament intended when it restored the four well-beings into the Local Government Act.

"The council identified a local issue and took a systems approach, taking on the role of advocate, broker and coordinator."

Rotorua Mayor Steve Chadwick. Photo / File

SOLGM's chief executive Karen Thomas said the excellence awards were an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the work of professionals in the local government sector.

Mayor Steve Chadwick said the award was a testament to the commitment of all those who contributed to make a difference.

"We want Rotorua to be a place for everyone and that means we need to address the barriers to full participation that exist for our most vulnerable," she said.

"Every child matters and simple things can have a big impact, as the programme has shown and I think I think Rotorua can be very proud of this."

The pilot was a collaborative project between Rotorua Lakes Council, a number of community and central government agencies, and decile one Sunset Primary School.

The programme provides tamariki living in deprivation with access to activities, services and experiences that enhance health and well-being. The scheme has been extended to five decile one and two schools.

The mayor paid tribute to the commitment of council staff, Sunset School, its wider community and other partner groups central to the success of the child equity programme.

"This programme was driven by a need we saw to interrupt the poverty cycle and reduce inequities to limit associated long-term impacts and it is making a difference.

The annual gala dinner event for the awards has been cancelled due to Covid-19, and award recipients were announced online.

Te Arawa Catfish Killas: Supreme Award winners

For the first time since 2012, a single council has won more than one Excellence Award at the NZ Society of Local Government Managers (SOLGM) Awards.

Bay of Plenty Regional Council, together with project partners Te Arawa Lakes Trust, was today announced as the Supreme Award winner for the joint Te Arawa Catfish Killas project.

It is one of three categories council received an award of excellence for.

Bay of Plenty Regional Council's Lucas Macdonald, (left) and William Anaru. Photo / File

The other two awards won are were the BERL Award for Collaborative Government Action for the Kopeopeo Canal remediation work, and Te Puni Kōkiri Award for Bicultural Leadership for the Te Arawa Catfish Killas project.

The Catfish Killas programme was praised by the judges as an inspirational example of managing biosecurity through co-management with Māori.

Te Arawa Lakes Trust environment manager Nicola Douglas said true collaboration between mana whenua and local government could achieve great things.