The Project

Home to more than 222,000 people, the western Bay of Plenty is one of the fastest growing areas in New Zealand. In the last 30 years, the population has doubled. By 2050 around 280,000 people will live in the area. It will see around 37,000 new homes, and one million movements per day across the transport network.

With more people calling Tauranga and the sub-region home, we need to plan for continued community growth. In the Western Corridor, the new residential developments at Tauriko West and Keenan Road will be linked to the rest of Tauranga via high frequency public transport services from Tauranga Crossing to the city centre.

These communities will be designed to deliver walkable neighbourhoods, low carbon footprints and communities where people can live, work, learn and play. Densities in these new communities are expected to be at least 25 dwellings per hectare in the first 10 years and will reach higher densities over time.

Tauriko West

The vision for Tauriko West is to create a thriving community for locals to live, learn, work and play locally. This means the community will have amenities such as schools, parks, cycle and walkways, access to shopping and community facilities, and safe transport connections.

Tauriko West is the ideal location to develop a new community as it is:

• Located on the periphery of the existing city, so it can be integrated with the transport network
• Relatively easy to service with infrastructure
• Owned by a limited number of landowners (not fragmented into many titles)
• A high amenity location that faces north-west and slopes gently towards the Wairoa River
• An opportunity to develop high quality urban place-making and community.

Creating a new community in Tauriko West integrates with plans for greater housing choice, access to amenities and a wider range of transport options in the Te Papa peninsula (Building our Future Cameron Road) and across the city (Western Bay Transport System Plan – TSP).

Building a community at Tauriko West requires changes to the Regional Policy Statement (completed), a boundary alteration between Western Bay and Tauranga City councils (completed), and changes to the transport system and to the Tauranga City Plan (in progress). All these changes will need to be implemented in accordance with the Resource Management Act 1991.

As we are future-proofing this area, we are also drawing on our past. We are committed to embracing the rich history of Tauriko, and are working together with mana whenua and the community to protect the environment while creating a new community and upgrading the transport network.

WORKING WITH MANA WHENUA

We meet regularly with mana whenua through Te Kauae a Roopu, a partnership group made up of six hapū with links to Tauriko West and who whakapapa to Tauranga Moana iwi Ngāti Ranginui.

The six hapū are Ngāti Kahu, Ngāti Rangi, Ngāti Pango, Pirirakau, Ngāti Hangarau, and Ngāi Tamarawaho.

Te Kauae a Roopu was established in 2017 to incorporate Māori knowledge, perspectives, and values into decision-making processes for Tauriko for Tomorrow, in partnership with other key stakeholders including NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi, Bay of Plenty Regional Council, Western Bay of Plenty District Council, and Tauranga City Council. The group has regular hui to work on assessments and investigations relating to technical design and specifications, and to ensure key cultural values are aligned in all aspects of the project.

Project objectives

Planning for the Tauriko for Tomorrow project aims to deliver:

• Reserves, schools and community facilities to support a live, learn, work, play community
• Connected communities supported by public transport, cycle and walkways, and local road networks
• Vibrant communities, connected to strong employment and shopping centres
• Safe communities for everyone to enjoy and resilience to natural hazards such as flooding
• An efficient and safer state highway, supporting a key freight route for our region
• Connection to the environment and tangata whenua, embracing Tauriko’s history and protecting the Wairoa River Valley
• New housing with a variety of housing types and choices.

The long-term goal is to have a successful region that is equipped to grasp every opportunity and is a place where people love to live.

This project is one of several new urban growth areas that will deliver new housing capacity in the region over the next 10 years as part of a long-term SmartGrowth strategy. Other urban growth areas include Te Tumu (located in Papamoa East), building a more compact city for Tauranga and planning for future growth within the Keenan Road area (south of The Lakes development within Pyes Pa), Ōmokoroa, Katikati, and Te Puke.

Scroll down and find out more about the different parts of the project.