Tauranga City Council has reviewed four high profile projects that either the delivery or final result did not meet community expectations.

Of the four projects, three were council led, Greerton Village traffic safety improvements, the development of the former Phoenix Carpark and the design of Kulim Park, and the fourth was the Mount Maunganui Surf Lifesaving Club's clubroom replacement.

An independent reviewer, Max Pederson, a former Local Government Chief Executive, was asked to determine why these projects did not meet the expectations of the public or key stakeholders and recommend improvements for future projects.

Mayor Greg Brownless said he believes that good project management and engagement is essential for the community to have confidence and satisfaction with Council activities.

'The review found several common issues across the projects in relation to delivery and engagement and Council has been provided with recommendations for organisational improvements.”

Improvements to address the recommendations of the review are underway, including:

• structural reorganisation towards a community and customer service focus
• development of an Infrastructure Project Lifecycle process to ensure better project reviews, at appropriate milestones, with relevant project stakeholders
• linking cost estimate and scope review to consultation
• an independent review of the communications and engagement functions within Council.

In addition to the above, and in response to feedback about the Greerton Village improvements, Council has engaged an independent road traffic engineering firm to provide options for improving traffic efficiency on Cameron Road through to Greerton Village. The focus of this review will be the Chadwick Road roundabout and associated crossings. The output will be a high-level assessment including potential options for consideration.

Another independent road traffic engineering firm has also been engaged to look at improvements that can be made to the Welcome Bay Road and Welcome Bay Lane network, with the specific purpose of opening up Welcome Bay Lane to general traffic.

Staff will provide updates on these improvements to the Projects, Services and Operations Committee as early as May this year.

'We want to reassure our community we are listening to them and that we are focused on delivering community projects that meet their needs,” says Mayor Brownless.