Nigel Tutt Chief Executive of Priority One

Tauranga had the privilege of last week hosting Te Waihanga – New Zealand's Infrastructure Commission, an organisation that provides policy advice to central government.

Their board and executive presented a session on how to improve infrastructure in this region, providing regional leaders with the opportunity to discuss how NZ and the region can address our infrastructure deficit.

Sessions like this are crucial to gaining better visibility for the region and the significant infrastructure challenges here across transport, housing and community assets. I get the impression many government officials in Wellington view the region as it was 20 years ago – a lot smaller and less significant to Aotearoa than it is now. It is important we gain more prominence for our region.

The session's main themes were the importance of separating national infrastructure planning from the political realm, and the crucial need for infrastructure planning to be thought about for the long term; one provocative statistic was Tauranga is the same size now as Auckland was 100 years ago.

Community stadium concept

In line with this theme of planning for the future, it's important we consider future options for the city including social and cultural infrastructure. An example of potential community infrastructure is the boutique, multi-use, community stadium concept proposed for Tauranga Domain, which was presented via a preliminary business case last week for consideration by Tauranga City Council. Commissioners agreed with the direction and need for full public consultation on the preliminary stadium business case and asked for more information to further assess the project.

A concept that would enhance the city's sporting infrastructure while providing additional uses such as an exhibition centre, space for concerts and festivals, sports clubs, and a teaching space for the university, the ‘community stadium' would retain public use, while providing more opportunities to hold events in the city.

Getting the size right for this type of development is important, and the proposed size of 7000 permanent seats with ability to flex up to 15,000 for a big sports game would be a good fit for Tauranga. The stadium could hold up to 25,000 people for concerts and more for festival-type events. It'd provide many more opportunities for community and cultural interaction than we have now and aligns well with CBD rejuvenation already underway.