Nigel Tutt Chief Executive of Priority One

It's been a slightly depressing start to 2022 with plenty of doom and gloom commentary on our economy, with Omicron and inflation dominating headlines. Some positivity is clearly required as a balance, so I'm going to use this space to highlight some of the good news around our wonderful region.

Firstly, it was great to see the Farmers retail stores opening in the CBD a couple of weeks ago. Farmers, Pascoes and Whitcoulls stores have all opened within the Thirty Eight Elizabeth development. This will add some much-needed retail activity and foot traffic to the city, and it has created a noticeable change right from the opening. What is to come is perhaps even better though, with the retail stores being complemented by the dining precinct on the terrace due to open in a few months, followed by 97 apartments and 23 townhouses.

Thirty Eight Elizabeth as a cornerstone development is the changing face of Tauranga's CBD. Based on what we can see in advance here at Priority One, there is around $1.5 billion of development planned or underway in the city. We can look forward to about 20 new developments in coming years – spanning various sizes of office buildings and apartments, the new courthouse, council facilities and an expanding university. Investment interest in the city has skyrocketed during the last six months, so we can expect this list will only grow longer.

In other good news, economic data released earlier this month shows a couple of really strong points for our economy. In very difficult times last year our local economy still grew; while the rate of growth was modest compared to previous years, it compares very well with the New Zealand economy in general, which contracted slightly. Our unemployment rate is also very low, which is pleasing in difficult times like this. We need to be sure that all in our community have access to a job if they want one.

The change to the TECT trust structure that will come to fruition later this year is another positive development. TECT already make a big difference to many community organisations and facilities; this change will allow the trust greater capacity for grants so they can make even more impact in our community.

Lastly, while many events have been cancelled or postponed it is very heartening to see the Women's Cricket World Cup is still going ahead. We are fortunate to host seven games here at our wonderful showpiece, the Bay Oval. These games provide a boost to local industry and also give us a chance to showcase our region to a large international TV audience.

These good news events are just the tip of the iceberg. I look forward to sharing more with you in coming weeks and months.