Regional collaboration for PGF applications
Regional collaboration for PGF applications
Elected members from the four Councils and Iwi, and the boards of Development West Coast and Tourism West Coast, met on Wednesday to discuss economic development, and how best to leverage opportunities for the region through the Provincial Growth Fund.
The workshop was supported by representatives from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, Department of Conservation and Ministry of Primary Industries.
A vision for the future was tested amongst workshop participants. The vision, and underlying strategy, will assist with identifying, and prioritising, initiatives that can contribute to creating a thriving and prosperous region.
The feedback from Wednesday will now be collated by the Development West Coast Economic Development Unit into a series of packages, with the first tranche to be submitted to the Provincial Growth Fund in August.
The future of stewardship land was also robustly discussed. Identified as a significant issue for the region, West Coast attendees voted to seek the review of stewardship land as per the original government process outlined in 1987.
The West Coast Mayors and Chairs will be meeting with Minister Shane Jones, and potentially Acting Prime Minister, Winston Peters, next week to discuss this issue further, as well as highlighting the collaboration that is underway across the region in economic development.
The West Coast Mayors and Chairs would like to acknowledge the input to the workshop from all 38 attendees.
“A gathering of this nature has not occurred for many years, and the value of such an event to work together to drive the future of the West Coast forward cannot be underestimated,” they said.