Western Bay Councillors Push Back Against New Subcommittee Rammed Through Without Approval
Western Bay of Plenty District Councillors are speaking out against the creation of a new SmartGrowth Subcommittee in the Bay of Plenty, established without any formal vote or approval from elected members across all three affected councils.
The subcommittee includes just six people:
The Mayor of Tauranga
The Mayor of Western Bay of Plenty
The Chair of Bay of Plenty Regional Council
The Chair of the Combined Tangata Whenua Committee
A rotating Mana Whenua representative
Any co-opted members chosen by the mayors and chairs
So, what's missing? Any mandate. Any scrutiny. And nearly every other elected councillor.
Councillors Raise Red Flags
Western Bay councillors voiced strong opposition, raising the following issues on record:
The subcommittee was formed without councillor approval
Councils were not consulted on the Terms of Reference
The Terms are vague and lack clear limits on decision-making
There is no defined reporting structure back to councils
The subcommittee consolidates power into a "small tight group"
This approach is 'pulling power away from democracy,' in the words of several councillors
Rodney Joyce, current councillor and candidate for Western Bay Mayor, put it bluntly:
'This is not how democracy works.'
Don Thwaites, another mayoral contender, warned:
'If the Mayor of Tauranga is negotiating capital gains tax or congestion charging with central government, I don't want to see it happening in a secret little group.'
Statement from Erika Harvey, Lobby for Good
'This isn't efficiency, it's exclusion. We're seeing the same pattern across the country with insiders shaping decisions behind closed doors, then presenting them as done deals.
When elected councillors are cut out of the process entirely, it doesn't matter what the policy is, it's a democratic failure. This SmartGrowth subcommittee was formed without a single vote from elected members. That should alarm anyone who believes in local representation.'
Lobby for Good is now calling for urgent clarity from SmartGrowth and the three councils involved. Specifically:
Who authorised the creation of this subcommittee without councillor approval?
What decisions is this unelected subcommittee empowered to make?
Why were the Terms of Reference not put to elected members for debate or amendment?
Will any minutes, agendas, or decisions be made public?
How will this structure affect public accountability, transparency, and democratic representation?
Does this reflect a broader pattern of decision-making being centralised into insider groups, as we've seen with the Water Done Well process?
A Familiar Pattern: Public Excluded, Power Concentrated
This move closely mirrors concerns raised in other areas of local governance that we are hearing from across the country, where decisions are increasingly being shaped behind closed doors, then handed down to councillors and the public with limited time or transparency.
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