Regional Council is currently investigating two potential locations for new Regional Parks, one in the western Bay of Plenty, and another near Rotorua.

Toi Moana Bay of Plenty Regional Council currently owns and manages two Regional Parks in the Bay of Plenty - Pāpāmoa Hills Cultural Heritage Regional Park located in the western Bay, and the Onekawa Te Mawhai Regional Park near Ōhiwa Harbour in the eastern Bay.

We maintain and enhance visitor experiences with car parking, toilets, signs and storytelling, track development and maintenance, prescribed grazing, programmed native re-vegetation and community events.

These parks provide recreation opportunities for locals and visitors to the region and help provide protection of both the natural environment and cultural and archaeological features. Thousands of visitors explore the regional parks each month with close to 100,000 visitors to the Pāpāmoa Hills Cultural Heritage Regional Park in 2022/23.

We have become aware of opportunities to purchase and develop two new regional parks, one is in the Western Bay of Plenty and one is in the Rotorua district.

We are planning to investigate both of these options in greater detail, including exploring any opportunities to find partners to purchase and develop the Regional Parks.

Developing either or both Regional Parks would deliver a range of environmental, economic, social and cultural benefits to our community through:

• Increased protection for biodiversity and water quality through land use change.
• Reduced erosion and sedimentation into bodies of water through planting back into native bush.
• Carbon sequestration opportunities.
• Protection of culturally significant and/or archaeological sites.
• New recreation opportunities for residents such as walking, running, mountain biking and horse riding trails.
• Cultural experiences, volunteering opportunities and outdoor/environmental education.
• Economic benefits through increased tourism with more visitors to our region.

These two opportunities are at a relatively early stage and we have further investigatory works and due diligence to carry out which may include farm system planning, valuations, legal fees, planning and other permissions before final decisions can be made. These investigations will cost up to $450,000 over two years and could increase rates by an average of $3.30 per household/ratepayer, depending on land value. We would like to get an early indication of the level of support for these opportunities.

We prefer option 2. We see both regional parks as opportunities to provide a range of environmental, social, cultural and economic benefits to the people in the Bay of Plenty, as a result we would like to investigate both opportunities before budgeting for their purchase and development.