1.Sustainable development

The Local Government Act. All Councils are now all working under the purposeful mandate of the new Local Government Act: to play a broad role in promoting the social, economic, environmental and cultural well-being of their communities, taking a sustainable development approach. (s 3 (d))

This helps reinforce and, to some extent, leads a redefinition of the scope of the work of the Forum.

Government Leadership on Principles of Sustainable Development
The government has adopted 10 principles to guide the public service in achieving sustainable development. It has placed a sustainable development approach at the core of its policies to make new and sensible connections between economic, social, environmental and cultural policies. It marks a move away from the silos of 1990s policy. It marks a move to whole of government, integrated action. Government is expecting better more sustainable outcomes from departments. It has the same expectation of you, at a regional level.

Government Action on Auckland¡¦s Sustainable Development
In the government¡¦s Sustainable Development Programme of Action, which Jim Anderton and I launched here in Auckland in January, we acknowledge the importance of metropolitan Auckland to the achievement of sustainable development in New Zealand. Government is seeking that Auckland be a centre of innovation and economic growth, as well as a liveable place that supports social wellbeing, quality of life and cultural identities.

The Sustainable Cities action programme has a strong Auckland focus. Government officials have been working with your local authority representatives (mandated by the Mayoral Forum) to develop joint projects that will help achieve those goals. Elsewhere on today¡¦s agenda you have an item from that group of officials. I am pleased to announce that last week, Cabinet approved the budget for this work, that will give us the capacity for action; and it approved the broad scope of the proposed work.

[Work includes national projects on design protocol, urban standards and indicators, and policy development. Auckland work includes projects on economic development strategy, transport, urban design and development, community development, review of the Auckland-specific provisions of the Local Government Act 1974, improving settlement outcomes for new migrants and improving social cohesion and wellbeing.

The Urban Design Protocol: One of the Sustainable Cities projects being undertaken at the national level is the development and adoption of a New Zealand Urban Design Protocol. This work is comes under my new ministerial responsibilities for Urban Affairs.

„XIdea of an Urban Design Protocol modelled on NSW example (Federal Government currently developing a National Charter) and will be refined to suit New Zealand¡¦s urban context, culture and issues.
„XThe protocol is a non-regulatory document that states the importance of urban design as an example of a practical approach to achieving Sustainable City outcomes
„XKey focus of the protocol is to:
-Provide practical government commitment and leadership to creating liveable and competitive New Zealand towns and cities
-Improve the understanding of the benefits of an urban design approach and its application
-Increase the level of urban design capability across key levels of central and local government, industry and professions.
„XThe protocol will be developed to:
-Identify a key set of urban design principles to guide the development and management of high quality New Zealand towns and cities
-Partner and leverage commitment from government agencies, local government, industry and the community to use urban design principles in their work and achieve set outcomes and goals
-Identify and define key roles and responsibilities across government and the community to achieve agreed outcomes

Partnership: In this work we are determined to forge a new way of working as a whole of government team, and to work in a new way in partnership with local government

2.Urban affairs

My appointment as Minister with responsibility for Urban Affairs signals a heightened interest by government in the outcomes of the management of cities.
In exercising this portfolio, I will progressively provide strategic direction for government¡¦s urban policy across the four dimensions of sustainable development - economic, social, environmental and cultural.

My key interest is in urban systems. I want to see them managed in a more integrated way, to be more efficient, more competitive, and to be better places to live. I am more interested in urban governance, form and performance at the regional scale, rather than the individual detail of a particular building or site.

3.Future of the Growth Forum and Growth Strategy
As you all know this Forum and the Regional Growth Strategy gain their statutory status under saved provisions of the Local Government Act 1974. My colleague Hon Chris Carter, the Minister of Local Government has announced that he is commencing a review of those provisions. As Minister with Responsibility for Urban Affairs, I have a keen interest in the outcome of the review. As I have noted, I have a particular interest in system-wide urban issues. I see the Growth Forum and Strategy as a key component in the planning and governance of this complex metropolitan Region.

The Growth Forum has been a very successful innovation in bringing together local authorities to cooperate on matters that affect the entire region. In many ways it has been able to make progress on policy matters simply because it is a voluntary undertaking, resting strongly on personal commitments, rather than on regulation and litigation.

That strength has of course also been a weakness when the policies in the Growth Strategy have been found to have no standing in the Environment Court.

Metropolitan Auckland needs planning, and regulatory governance systems that fit it for the 21st Century. In sustainable development terms such systems are going to be driven by making progress towards a goal, rather than simply reacting to growth and other things that happen. This is a different way of doing things than in the 1990s. The Local Government Act Review provides a stocktake of where we are, and gives us an opportunity to improve the arrangements if that is possible.

There is a question of the multiplicity of regional documents and processes ¡V the Regional Policy Statement and regional plans under the RMA, the Regional Growth Strategy, the Regional Land Transport Strategy, and of course the Long Term Council Community Plans ¡V should there be a clearer hierarchy of documents, or a nesting of some within others. How can we reinforce rather than undermine the primacy of the Regional Policy Statement in this regulatory landscape, how can we simplify the consultation, how can we keep the policy dynamic and relevant in a cost effective manner?

Can we bring more certainty by reference to common high-level goals? Can we agree on the goals?

It seems to me that here in Auckland you have already agreed on the key driving goals: a compact urban form that brings efficiency; an urban quality of life, social connectedness and liveability that underpins economic competitiveness; all glued together and served by a fully functioning transport and travel network.

But the story is spread partially and thinly through the documents I have mentioned, without bringing the level of certainty needed to truly guide development, or to allow us to measure the success or failure of any particular development. In thinking about the Regional Growth Strategy, I invite you to think about the whole suite of documents, and how they might be arranged, and aligned to provide statutory leadership, planning certainty on system-wide growth issues.