A group of local leaders will decide how the Mediterranean Shipping Company's $1million donation to the Bay of Plenty community will be distributed.

Following a preliminary meeting between Council representatives from the Bay of Plenty region and management of the company that chartered the Rena, MSC, Sir Peter Trapski has been appointed chair of the MSC Rena Recovery Fund.

Sir Peter Trapski will chair the $1million MSC Rena Recovery Fund.

Other members of the committee will be Mayor of Tauranga Stuart Crosby, Mayor of Western Bay of Plenty District Council Ross Paterson, Bay of Plenty Regional Council Chair John Cronin and shipping company representative and managing director of MSC (Aust) Pty Ltd Kevin Clarke.

A representative from iwi is yet to be appointed.

Applications for funding will be sought from local community groups for the committee to consider.

'Due to our longstanding and positive partnership with the Port of Tauranga we wanted to support the wider communities of the Bay of Plenty with this goodwill gesture,” says Kevin.

'We decided the best way to ensure that the funds were distributed to the right places was to involve the local people in the decision making process."

MSC announced the establishment of a $1million Rena Recovery Fund on Wednesday, October 3 to aid Bay of Plenty residents and help cover the costs of the disaster.

The Rena was carrying 1368 containers when it ran aground on October 5, 2011.

Kevin says the representatives at the meeting were unanimous in their decision that it was important to have an independent chair who understands the region and the issues its constituents had to deal with.

A former Chief District Court Judge Sir Peter Trapski is a long term Bay of Plenty resident, who formerly practiced as a barrister and solicitor in Mount Maunganui.

Since his retirement from the District Court, Sir Peter has been practising as a commercial arbitrator, mediator, trustee, company director, and consultant.

Sir Peter is pleased to accept the role and said that the first job, prior to the first official meeting, was to seek a local Bay of Plenty iwi representative to sit on the committee.

'We have been able to identify the appropriate people from the councils and all of us have agreed that we will need input from iwi right from the first official meeting,” says Peter.

A request for applications to the fund will be publically notified following the first meeting of the full committee.