Rosebank Business Centre Report

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Recommendations

This research has provided an opportunity for the Auckland City Economic Development Group to proactively engage with business associations and organisations across the city. By using this approach with other business centres across the city, council gains reliable economic data and builds stronger stakeholder relationships with business. This provides opportunities to consult each other more regularly with the aim of achieving more consensual decision making in local areas.

The level of interaction between the parties is significant to dealing with issues that affect the area. The level of investment various stakeholders have in the future development of the area depends on communication between the parties. This is vital to effective decision-making, which is in the interests of all parties when tackling local infrastructure issues. In the wider context, decisions made elsewhere in the Region impact on the local business environment. The consultation processes must be seen by business as effective and not a waste of time, as many business people have very little time available outside of running their business.

Two projects in particular, Transits proposed State Highway Twenty (SH20) Avondale Extension and the proposed Whenuapai commercial Airport are of direct significance to Rosebank businesses. The preferred route for State Highway Twenty joining State Highway Sixteen is at Waterview, east of Rosebank Road. If the interchange at Waterview is approved then through traffic using Rosebank Road could decrease. This would positively impact on the access and congestion issues that currently face businesses on a daily basis.

I recommend Auckland City Council's Economic Development Group to continue business centre research through the applied approach that was used in this study. It would be greatly beneficial for groups responsible for issues affecting business centres to be included in the next business centre research. This report can now be used to inform the relevant groups as identified in the 'opportunities for council' section of the report on Page Ten.

It is of vital importance for the Economic Development Group to preserve the relationship with the Rosebank Business Association through actively seeking consultation on issues that this report has highlighted within Council.

I recommend for questions to be included into the next survey design. These questions need to be more explicit with regard to exports and imports. An example would be what percentage of your business turnover is contributed to by exports? The section on industry sectors needs to include more of the sub-sectors to better represent the nature of all businesses.

Further questions could refine the costs associated with land values and solicit information asking for the value of change – or the degree (percentage).

Most importantly, questions relating to transportation for staff, of goods and access for customers and suppliers needs to ask for information on how long it takes to travel each day, reach the Ports and/or Airport. How far both staff and goods actually travel on average would provide information to be used by other groups within council.

Specifically, once employment factors are better understood in relation to where people work, business centre growth could further enhance the employment opportunities for local communities. This would improve the levels of congestion across Auckland City as more people would travel less to work each day.

Finally, using capable students from Auckland University of Technology and other leading institutions is to be encouraged where possible when conducting research projects across Auckland City. This provides cost effective resources for Auckland City and valuable professional workplace experience for the students. This approach requires the on-going support and supervisory from professionals for the students.