Yesterday, Tauranga City Council deliberated on and adopted updated policies for the naming of streets, reserves and other public places, and for coastal structures. This concludes a long process of research, redrafting and community consultation on both policies.

Policies set out the principles that council will follow when making day-to-day decisions on the topics they address. The naming policy provides the principles and criteria against which to assess proposals for new names for public places like streets and parks. The coastal structures policy tells us what to consider when deciding if and how to build, maintain or remove public seawalls, breakwaters or boat ramps.

Coastal Structures Policy 2020

Coastal structures are any man-made building, equipment, device or other facility fixed to land along the coast. They include hard protection structures such as seawalls and groynes (aka breakwaters), and structures with recreational benefits like jetties and boat ramps. Council has an annual budget to manage public coastal structures and must decide how best to allocate it.

Policy direction – key points:

• We will prioritise the maintenance and renewal of the coastal structures that protect essential public assets and activities, like water and wastewater pipes, essential roads, and reserves that provide public access around the coast. Council may decide to stop maintaining or to remove structures protecting less significant activities, when the structures are at risk due to erosion.
• We will consider managed retreat (relocating the activity) as an alternative to using hard protection structures such as seawalls and rock revetments.
• We will not build or maintain structures to protect private or commercial interests, but may allow landowners, under conditions, to take over the maintenance or ownership of a protection structure that we have decided to stop maintaining. We will continue to prohibit new private protection structures on public land.

This policy outlines Council's role as a landowner and asset manager. It does not override rules and principles established through other legislation and plans developed under the Resource Management Act.

Naming Policy 2020

The policy's purpose is to provide a consistent approach to naming streets, reserves, and other public places in Tauranga, and encourage locally significant names, including Māori names that increase visibility of mana whenua connections to Tauranga.

Policy direction – key points:

• We will prioritise local identity, historical significance and significance to mana whenua in the naming of new streets, reserves, community facilities, and other public places.
• We will support dual naming (English and te reo Māori) of new and existing streets, reserves, community facilities and other public places. The English name will appear first on street signs and be used for addressing purposes.
• We will consider applications to rename reserves and other public places, and applications to rename existing streets when there are strong reasons for doing so. Council itself will also be able to initiate renaming a street following major changes in road layout or infrastructure, where necessary to avoid confusion, duplication or ambiguity, or where an incorrect name has become established over time by local usage.
• We will inform the community of new names provided by mana whenua for the purpose of increasing understanding, but will not ask the wider community to approve proposed Māori names.
• The mayor and councillors will decide whether to approve dual naming and renaming requests, but the decisions on names for new reserves and other public places will be delegated to the chief executive.

Both policies are now effective and will be available by the end of the week at www.tauranga.govt.nz/council/council-documents/bylaws-and-policies/policies