Making Wanganui work for us

Annette Main

RECENTLY David Bennett, Rod Trott and Bernard Corkery presented their vision for our district in an article published in the Wanganui Chronicle called "Getting our act together".

I welcome any discussion about how to address provincial depopulation and economic growth and admire the ambition for Whanganui expressed in the article.

It seems that the threat of a "zombie town" image has made many people think about the kind of place we live in and how we want to be seen by those outside the district as well as ways to contribute to a future where we can say that "Whanganui works for us".

We all want to live in a place where our individual and community social, cultural and economic aspirations are able to be met, and we should be able to do that here, where our surroundings provide the perfect setting for creative thinking.

The goals of Messrs Bennett, Trott and Corkery to create a larger, more prosperous community are shared by Wanganui District Council and it is reassuring that our vision for our district is similar to theirs. This is reflected in the 10-year plan 2015-2025 consultation document, currently out for comment and submission.

Whanganui & Partners, which holds the role of economic development for our district, is working with business, community and iwi on most, if not all, of the visions in their article.

Wanganui District Council established Whanganui & Partners in 2014 as a council controlled organisation to grow the district's economic and social wellbeing. It is run by a board with council, iwi and independent representation and has three advisory boards: Visit Whanganui (our regional tourism organisation), Business Whanganui and Education Whanganui. Industry representatives, as well as elected members, sit on each board and add their expertise in addition to the professional staff.

Whanganui & Partners is led by manager Adrian Dixon and his team of Lyn Cheyne (Visit Whanganui), Chris Heywood (Business Whanganui) and Innovation Leader Marianne Archibald - they are a great team.

We appointed Adrian at the end of last year and his experience and knowledge has already impressed local businesses and entrepreneurs. We've also seen a solid increase in visitor numbers, thanks to the work of Visit Whanganui.

Next month we will host the launch of ultrafast broadband where the rest of New Zealand will see how our lifestyle, technology infrastructure and globally connected attitude makes it easy for people to set up business and live here.

The following initiatives are being undertaken by Whanganui & Partners to develop prosperity in our community:

1.Whanganui & Partners has a number of targets including an average real gross domestic product increase of more than 2.5 per cent by the end of 2020. Achieving this target will result in increased population.

2.As Mr Bennett says, the district is indeed a centre of excellence for manufacturing and this is why Whanganui & Partners has been contacting the major manufacturing companies asking to discuss their plans to establish how we could help.

3.Whanganui & Partners has developed an investment fund model and engaged with companies licensed by the Financial Markets Authority to provide capital raising services. These services will be launched soon.

4. Business attraction is a core goal for Whanganui & Partners. The team has asked larger local companies to review their supply chains and identify suppliers from outside Whanganui to see if they can work with established operations here.

5.Iwi are represented on the Whanganui & Partners board and advisory boards. Whanganui & Partners, Wanganui District Council Holdings Ltd and Wanganui District Council work closely with iwi on economic, employment and tourism initiatives to achieve employment growth and a more prosperous community.

6.Callaghan Innovation is part of the Regional Business Programme, via Vision Manawatu Whanganui. Through this programme, local businesses are able to access funding and other support for research and development. We are working to ensure Whanganui businesses, entrepreneurs and iwi gain maximum access to Callaghan Innovation's business support.

7.Two reports have been published identifying land use opportunities. Projects to support this are being developed by Whanganui & Partners and are a focus of a Regional Growth Study funded by central government.

8.Whanganui & Partners has been engaging with the Chamber of Commerce and is working on several initiatives which will soon be launched.

9.Work on tourism marketing, attracting tourism operators and improving the business operations of existing operators is under way. The Visit Whanganui board, our marketing and promotions manager Lyn Cheyne and the i-SITE visitor centre team have been working to attract more tourists and increase the amount of money tourists spend in Whanganui. In December 2014, compared with December 2013, Whanganui had the highest percentage increase in total guest nights in the North Island with 32.3 per cent, the second highest in New Zealand.

10.We are working to increase the size and number of sport, arts and other events, improve events management and look at the way events are funded.

11.While there is no current work focused on the creation of a timber mill, all sectors of opportunity are under investigation.

12.We are also working on the Whanganui Port redevelopment project in partnership with Te Runanga o Tupoho.

The Whanganui & Partners team is available to speak with businesses and individuals and welcomes involvement in its projects.

The team encourages businesses to advise us of the time, funds and other resources they can make available to grow a more prosperous Whanganui.

For more, or to be included in the Whanganui & Partners newsletter database, email adrian.dixon@whanganuiandpartners.nz or visit Whanganui & Partners on Facebook.