Our work towards this community outcome aims to enable our communities to participate meaningfully in decision-making and take action to benefit our collective wellbeing. There are six components to this:
Our local government elections in October provide you with an opportunity to vote for who represents you and your community best. For the first time, our Council will include two Māori representatives. While councillors are an essential component of the democratic decision-making process, they're not the only way people can participate. Every year we engage with our communities through various channels, including print, digital, and in-person, seeking genuine two-way communication and feedback as we work towards realising our vision for the region. This year will bring a number of public consultation processes, including our urban development change to the One Plan and Oranga Wai – Our Freshwater Future, which will seek feedback on attribute baselines and targets to help inform our future work programmes for freshwater. We value the relationships and partnerships we've built with tangata whenua and our 26 iwi across the region. This year, we'll continue to invest in these partnerships and facilitate tangata whenua input into a range of activities, including Oranga Wai, climate change and emergency management. We recognise the pressure on iwi and hapū capacity to engage with local government is growing, and we'll continue to provide resourcing to support this. We'll also continue to play our role in post-settlement governance systems.