{"id":22818,"date":"2025-09-15T01:12:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T01:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/22818\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T01:12:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T01:12:16","slug":"western-bay-mayoral-race-former-ceo-john-holyoake-promotes-partnership-approach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/22818\/","title":{"rendered":"Western Bay mayoral race: Former CEO John Holyoake promotes partnership approach"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Holyoake finished at Western Bay of Plenty District Council<\/a> in March after taking the chief executive job in July 2021.<\/p>\n

Prior to council<\/a>, he spent six years as chief executive at Tamaki Regeneration Company \u2013 the largest urban regeneration project in New Zealand.<\/p>\n

There was a lot of talk about getting back to basics or the council\u2019s core functions, but it actually needed to be done, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s about clean water, safe roads and good infrastructure.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone that I\u2019m speaking to is really hurting in terms of cost of living.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rates needed to be lower to help with this, which meant cutting back, Holyoake said. <\/p>\n

Local government was heading into a period of real change, he said.<\/p>\n

There was water reform, and Holyoake believed there would be a lot more talk from the Government about council amalgamation and rates capping.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to embrace that rather than fight it. I think we need to partner for progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Long-term funding from the Government was a must to achieve key projects, he said.<\/p>\n

This would come if the sub-region was successful in securing a regional deal from the Government, he said.<\/p>\n

Regional deals unlock funding and resource opportunities to support councils<\/a> with roading, infrastructure and the supply of quality housing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Having a long-term commitment from the Government would create certainty for the council and housing developers, he said.<\/p>\n

He wanted to see Takitimu Northern Link Stage 2<\/a> and a solution to get heavy vehicles off Te Puke\u2019s main road in the regional deal.<\/p>\n

Also support for Te K\u0101inga, a new settlement in the district\u2019s east.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to do what is best for the region and we\u2019ll get the best outcomes. It\u2019s not just about Western Bay\u2019s<\/a> projects it\u2019s also about Tauranga City Council\u2019s<\/a> projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JohnJohn Holyoake wants to get heavy vehicles off Te Puke’s main street. Photo \/ Stuart Whitaker<\/p>\n

Holyoake\u2019s long-term goal for the district was to free up land for housing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s already some good strategic plans in place for that, but it\u2019s actually time to get on and do some stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the council partnered with central Government and the private sector it could deliver projects like Te K\u0101inga, he said. <\/p>\n

A nice-to-have for Holyoake would be to have \u201creally good\u201d library services right across the district. <\/p>\n

Back-to-basics talk meant libraries and swimming pools were a \u201cgrey area\u201d and seen as a nice-to-have because they weren\u2019t important to everyone, Holyoake said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are the things that actually make a really big difference to families.\u201d <\/p>\n

Efficiency and cost reductions could be achieved by amalgamating with other councils, he said.<\/p>\n

Western Bay and neighbouring councils, like Tauranga, could have more shared services and deliver big infrastructure projects together but still retain their brand, Holyoake said.<\/p>\n

There were ways of doing this without losing the local voice, he said.<\/p>\n

He supported M\u0101ori wards because having their voice at the council table was \u201creally important\u201d.<\/p>\n

It was now up to people to decide how important it was to them through the M\u0101ori ward referendum, Holyoake said.<\/p>\n

Voting is open until midday October 11. <\/p>\n

– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Holyoake finished at Western Bay of Plenty District Council in March after taking the chief executive job…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22819,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[23607,1561,3500,2740,23605,5126,21168,111,43,139,69,4753,23606,7798,3457],"class_list":{"0":"post-22818","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-approach","9":"tag-bay","10":"tag-ceo","11":"tag-former","12":"tag-holyoake","13":"tag-john","14":"tag-mayoral","15":"tag-new-zealand","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-newzealand","18":"tag-nz","19":"tag-partnership","20":"tag-promotes","21":"tag-race","22":"tag-western"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}