Tauranga's Citizen's Advice Bureau can now be found on Cameron Road.

Staff are busy moving into the new premises at 367 Cameron Road, following a blessing of the site on Wednesday.

Kaumatua Tamati Tata of Ngāi Tamarāwaho led the blessing of the premises which was attended by CAB members and members of the community development team at Tauranga City Council, says new bureau manager Claire Hine.

CAB had been at their Hamilton Street officers for 45 years, but have moved to make way for the CBD's civic precinct development.

'We were part of civic precinct demolition site – so Tauranga City Council is funding our move, which we are very thankful for as we are a charity.”

Claire says they are now in the process of moving in, so they can open their doors on Monday, October 3, and continue to service the community.

'The premises have an awesome vibe and after all the hard work of getting them ready, we are exciting to be on the final lap.

'Every single member of the Citizen's advice team has contributed to the move, with packing, painting, cleaning and labelling our premises and we are so proud of our team.”

CAB Tauranga will be open at 367 Cameron Rd from Monday, October 3 – with the same hours as the previous location, from 9am-4pm Monday-Friday.

'Our new site at 367 Cameron Rd is opposite the primary school, and adjacent to the Salvation Army op shop,” says Claire, who began in her manager role at July's end.

Emigrating four years ago – with a career background in leadership, social housing and social services roles in the UK – she began working in New Zealand in transitional housing, then community services at Plunket.

'CAB interested me because I'm an advocate for people's rights – just making sure people have that information and advice is essential – and can access a clear path ahead – so it seemed like a natural step for me.”

Claire says CAB is vital to the Tauranga/Western Bay of Plenty community because it offers free, confidential and impartial advice. 'And we are on the side of the community; we are here to serve the community, so we get a broad range of enquiries.

'Currently we're getting a lot of immigration, visa enquiries, tenancy queries, neighbourhood disputes and consumer law.

'So I think what's vital about CAB is it is here so people are not suffering through ignorance of their rights – we can make them aware of the law and other relevant information and empower them to do something about it.”

Claire says: 'You can absolutely ask anyone about anything – and we will look into it”. 'We have a massive database and a huge amount of experience in our members.

'We also have access to employments advocates, community immigrations officers, lawyers – as a lot of people in the community work with us.”

Claire is also planning some weekly outreach mornings at Greerton and Welcome Bay libraries – so watch this space!

CAB Tauranga is open Monday-Friday at their 38 Hamilton St office until it opens at its new location – at 367 Cameron Rd – on October 3. For more information, visit: www.cab.org.nz Email: tauranga@cab.org.nz Or call: 07 578 1592 and leave a message including email/telephone number; they will get back to you.