ADVOCATE COLUMN 2nd WEEK JULY 2012

Although the playing field for economic development remains extremely uneven local government throughout New Zealand is trying, with limited resources, to play a meaningful economic development role in shaping the future of their communities. New Zealand Chambers of Commerce Northland strongly believe local government can make an important contribution to grow local economic activity by providing ‘business friendly’ services – responsive regulatory and consent regimes, low competitive rates - efficient infrastructure, positive promotion of the local area, attracting tourists and events. Councils rely on their local business sector to generate jobs, invest in the local economy and support the industries like tourism that benefit their whole community. As recently as May this year a MYOB Business Monitor quarterly survey reported that 64% of owners of Northland small to medium enterprises expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of their local councils in what was described as an environment of rising rates and arduous consenting processes. When it comes to identifying why business is dissatisfied with local government I would imagine it could be for a wide range of reasons. There may well be a sense of frustration around difficulties in resource consent processes, a sense that they are not getting value for money from ever-rising rates or that they just want councils to perform with the same level of efficiency and good governance as has been required of businesses during these difficult economic times. Equally when people have seen their lifetime endeavours put in jeopardy by influences beyond their control they may just be looking for someone to blame and councils can be an easy target. A common issue that arises when business talk of frustration with local government is the barriers that they perceive are in place around resource consent and compliance. However there is often little empirical evidence available to support this assertion and anecdotal evidence is often third or fourth hand. The Chamber is interested in hearing from business people who have directly experienced difficulties in obtaining resource consents. What their problems were and how they believe it impacted on our economy. We believe by sharing these experiences the private sector can then work collaboratively with local government to improve systems and to remove barriers that currently result in dissatisfaction with local government performance. This should not be about apportioning blame as all parties involved seek a prosperous and vibrant district. An evidence based solution will create a business friendly environment that enables economic development and benefits all communities.