Economic Development Guidebook
A guide to how local authorities can get more involved in economic development activities has been published by Local Government New Zealand. "Unleashing the Economic Development Potential of our Communities" is specifically aimed at elected representatives and staff at local government level, and it argues for councils being more involved in economic development activities. The guide has been written by Mark Goodchild, Sarah Russell and Kel Sanderson of Business & Economic Research Ltd (BERL).
In the guide, Dunedin Mayor Sukhi Turner (who is chair of the Economic Development Working Party) describes an "explosion of interest" by central government over the past year in the concepts of local economic development. She says that this has, in turn, inspired many of local authorities to review their efforts, or, if the council's active involvement was negligible, to now get involved.
Turner: "It is our job as the leaders of our communities to be pro-active and acknowledge our essential role in the local economic development process. There is more to economic development than just understanding, or being aware of the principles. It is also about putting these principles into action and about our councils committing resources for the long-term to develop sound strategies and effective initiatives. The regional statistics show that many parts of the country are still very undeveloped and that our national economy is much poorer for this. This shows there is still a lot of work for us all to do to grow our local economies..."
— The Guidebook can be downloaded from the Local Government New Zealand website www.localgovtnz.co.nz/library/
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