Kia ora koutou and welcome to December’s pānui | eNews, featuring:

  • Urban Development Insights Breakfast

  • WRLC Iwi Wānanga

  • WRLC Vacancy: Iwi Liaison role

  • WRLC December 2022 Meeting Papers

  • Complex Development Opportunities Update

  • Thought leadership webinars to watch out for in 2023

  • Survey – what would you like more of in 2023?

Urban Development Insights Breakfast – Building the ecosystem approach

Under clear blue skies on the morning of December 9th, WRLC, UDINZ and Kāinga Ora co-hosted an Urban Development insights breakfast meeting, to connect councils, central government, iwi and stakeholders involved in development work, to discuss our future work programme.

Given our region’s projected population growth of up to 200,000 people in the next 30 years, what do we need to be doing now, to adapt and plan for this growth? A key part of planning well for our future, is having crown, councils, iwi and the private sector working collaboratively. The Urban Development Insights breakfast was designed to connect councils, central government, iwi and stakeholders, to discuss the future of urban development in our region.  

Attendees heard from WRLC Programme Director Kim Kelly, Kāinga Ora’s Senior Development Manager – Strategic Urban Partnerships Erin Palmer, and UDINZ CEO Adrienne Miller.

WRLC Iwi Wānanga – Thursday 1 December

While Aotearoa’s joint partnerships are designed to support iwi’s equal participation alongside Crown and Councils at governance level, the realities of iwi’s time and resource constraints make their participation an ongoing challenge. However, with challenge comes opportunity. Successfully navigating this challenge, requires us to create the space for regular conversations to better understand needs and current processes, and to be deliberate in co-designing interventions and systemic changes together, to ensure iwi aspirations are accommodated. 

In that spirit, WRLC’s Independent Chair Tracey Martin, and Programme Director Kim Kelly, met with WRLC Iwi partners on December 1st. The goal of the wānanga was to give the floor to iwi to express their views on the WRLC work programme so far, barriers and opportunities relating to co-governance, and ways WRLC can support iwi with resourcing to support their priorities for 2023 and beyond.

The wānanga was a positive step forward in supporting iwi participation and aspirations, and part of our co-governance journey together. It is hoped the next wānanga will be held in early 2023. 

WRLC Iwi Liaison role

The WRLC has a role for an Iwi Liaison Manager. Relationships with iwi and mana whenua are integral to our work programme, to ensure that our projects are developed in partnership with iwi.  The iwi liaison will play a key role in supporting this outcome.

If you are interested in finding out more, please contact WRLC Programme Director: kim@wrlc.org.nz.

WRLC December 2022 Meeting Papers

The WRLC met on Tuesday 6 December, the first WRLC meeting for the newly elected Mayors, and the last meeting for 2022.

December papers covered:

– Appointment of the WRLC Deputy Chairperson
– Programme Director’s Report
– Snapshot of WRLC region
– Future Development Strategy Update
– Update on two Complex Development Opportunities: Waterloo Transit Oriented Development (TOD) and Featherston Masterplan.

You can view the full meeting papers here.

Training Opportunity: Co-design & Facilitation Masterclass – 22 & 23 February 2023 

Do you need to bring diverse stakeholders together to workshop complex issues? 

Designing for and facilitating effective collaboration has now become a key organisational skill, particularly in the public sector, where diverse stakeholders need to be bought together to address complex problems. Being able to facilitate effective collaboration is critical for effective problem-solving, drives higher team engagement and gets better outcomes faster.

Designing for and facilitating effective collaboration has now become a key organisational skill, particularly in the public sector, where diverse stakeholders need to be bought together to address complex problems. Being able to facilitate effective collaboration is critical for effective problem-solving, drives higher team engagement and gets better outcomes faster.

Learning outcomes

  1. Openfield Institute have developed a 2-day Design & Facilitation Masterclass to help you the mindset and skillset to co-design and deliver collaborative workshops with greater confidence.
  2. Explore the use of models and the art of questions as key enablers of the co-design practice.
  3. Learn structured processes and tools to develop your practice.

The course is designed as an intensive 2-day, experiential deep dive into the world of collaboration design and facilitation, followed by a 2-hour virtual session two or three months later to reflect on the path taken and to anchor teachings in your daily practice.

Read more about the topics, learning outcomes, who should attend, and facilitators, here.

CDO Update: Featherston Masterplan

The Featherston Masterplan is one of WRLC’s six Complex Development Opportunities. It reached a key milestone recently, with South Wairarapa District Council giving its planners the green light to advance detailed designs for improving Featherston’s main street and the link between the main street to the train station.

At the Council meeting on 14 December, Councillors endorsed a recommendation to progress a proposed concept plan for Featherston’s Fitzherbert Street/SH2, and a concept plan to enhance the walkway to the station.

The Council received substantial public feedback after an initial consultation phase asked residents for their ideas in July and August this year. This process gathered the views of more than 180 people via a survey and feedback from public drop-in sessions.
Mayor Martin Connelly said there were some very interesting suggestions that came out of the process, such as additional tree planting and traffic safety measures along the main street.

CDO Update: Waterloo Transit-Oriented Design

The Waterloo Transit-Oriented Design (TOD) Project is one of WRLC’s CDO’s (Complex Development Opportunities), and aims to better integrate Waterloo station into Hutt City’s urban form, and enhance multi-modal access to the public transport network. 

The goal of the project is to renew Waterloo station, to meet WRGF objectives of creating a more liveable, thriving and sustainable urban space – reimagining the vital interlinking of housing, transport and social services. Investing in transit-oriented development on key public transport corridors is key to enhancing our public spaces.

Thought Leadership Webinars Planning for 2023 – be excited!

Finding the best solutions to complex social and environmental challenges is not a linear process. The real world and it’s challenges and opportunities are dynamic and a bit messy, requiring us to be curious, agile, collaborative, and multi-perspectival. Our work programme seeks to solve some highly complex interrelated issues such as housing, climate, transport and iwi capacity. This invites us to seek diverse viewpoints to better understand the nature of the challenges, and what longterm solutions might look like. These webinars are designed to inspire new or innovative ways to think about our work, to hear from experts who’s work touches on our shared challenges and opportunities. 

Dr Jas Qadir
Principal Procurement Specialist, MBIE.

PhD: Regenerative Development: Systems Approaches, Public Investment and Multi-Capital Outcomes

Rob Cousins
Innovation Manager, Worksafe.

Rob’s work involves applying systems thinking to achieve impact in the public sector, while navigating the complexity of the real world. Don’t miss this one

Dr Rhian Salmon
Science Communication Lecturer, Academic and Public Engagement Specialist.

Co-Founder of the Centre for Science in Society, Principal Investigator with Te Pūnaha Matatini and their lead on Community of Inquiry focussed on Engagement. Dr Salmon is a passionate instigator and promoter of the intersection of science communication, community engagement, and democracy.

Dr Becky Kiddle
Head of Urban Development, Hutt City Council.

Co-Author of, “Imagining Decolonisation”.

Julio Bin
Systems Innovation Lead, The Southern Initiative.

The Southern Initiative is, “the quiet achiever” of enabling real, economic and social innovation and transformation in communities in South Auckland. Julio will share his wisdom and learnings on his role in this.

Suggested topics or speakers?

We’d love to hear from you on any other topics or speakers that would interest you or help you in your work. 
Please email Communications advisor Freda Wells to discuss further: freda@wrlc.org.nz

Feedback on WRLC

As we arrive at the end of another year, we’d love to hear your thoughts on what topics, content or events you’d iike to see more of, would best support your work, or you’re most curious about.  Please share your thoughts or any other feedback – via this link.

Ngā mihi o te Kirihimete me te Tau Hou ki a koutou,

WRLC Secretariat team x

About the Wellington Regional Leadership Committee

WRLC is a joint regional partnership which brings together Iwi leaders, Mayors, Ministers of Government, and an independent chair, to work collaboratively on cross-boundary, growth-related challenges in the Wellington-Wairarapa-Horowhenua region. 

WRLC exists to find better ways of working together to ensure that our region continues to be a place where people want to live, work and thrive.  

Our projects cover five broad key areas that are integral to our shared growth-related cross-boundary challenges. These five areas are iwi capacity, housing, climate, transport and economic development and recovery. Read more about our work on our project page, and if you’re interested in collaborating, sharing information and finding alignment – get in touch at hello@wrlc.org.nz.

Wellington Regional Leadership Committee

100 Cuba Street, Wellington
New Zealand

E: hello@wrlc.org.nz W: www.wrlc.org.nz