Creating a place to live

The A Place to Live conference wrapped up in Wanganui on Wednesday with a discussion of how to put ideas into practice.

The conference, which has been run in the city over four days, focussed on creating prosperous communities while balancing the economy and environment.

Victoria University's Alastair Bisley said the conference had been a good mix of travel, ideas and entertainment.

Radio broadcaster Kim Hill acted as host for the discussion and challenged the audience to discuss what they would be doing differently following the event.

Cutting down on one-use plastic and not leaving the younger generation to make all the change were some of the ideas discussed.

"It all takes time and it's harder than saying: 'This is what we are going to do'," Ms Hill said.

Joining the conference was a LocalNZ workshop involving 30 young New Zealanders, and Ms Hill asking them if the goals of "NZ Inc" were the same as for regional New Zealand.

The young people concluded there was an animosity from local government towards central government, and communication needed to be from the bottom with people talking to local government, who then talked to central government.

MPs should be made to attend local council meetings, the group said, while young people should also be encouraged to take part in local government.

A Place To Live closed with a speech by former MP Tariana Turia who said the conference had been about community.