I took part this morning in a strategy session for the Waipara Valley. The session pulled together tourism, viticultural, local government and local resident interests.
Broadly speaking we are trying to create a body with an all-encompassing view of development in the valley – that thinks and acts at a high level strategic space and that thinks with a long term vision.
On a micro scale we are doing what I believe NZ needs to do on a macroeconomic level. We need to pull together representatives from central and local government, different business groups, educational institutions, societal stakeholders and others to build a vision and a plan towards achieving sustainable and viable growth for this country.
The three year electoral cycle is a barrier to this sort of planning and that is why a high level group that can carry a vision from one electoral cycle to the next is the way of doing these things.
I’ll report more on the Waipara project as things develop.
