Commercial Centres Strategy
Working together for a shared view of commercial centres across the Western Bay
Western Bay of Plenty District Council and Tauranga City Council are working together to develop a draft Sub-Regional Commercial Centres Strategy for the Western Bay of Plenty (WBOP) sub-region, with a 30-50-year horizon.
We are currently in the early stages of developing the Strategy, gathering information and seeking input from stakeholders across the sub-region. Once this is complete, a draft Sub-Regional Commercial Centres Strategy will be prepared and shared more widely for further feedback. This will be an early draft, with further work required as the strategy continues to be developed.
Once finalised, the Strategy will provide a shared, long-term framework for how commercial centres across the WBOP sub-region function, grow and support communities, businesses and employment over time.
Why a Commercial Centres Strategy?
Commercial centres play a critical role in the WBOP - supporting jobs, services, investment and the everyday needs of growing communities. These centres range from small, locally focused centres serving nearby areas, through to larger town and city centres that support a wider mix of businesses, services and employment.
While these centres perform different functions and serve different catchments, they operate as part of a connected sub-regional system. People live, work, shop and invest across council boundaries – and decisions made in one place can influence outcomes elsewhere.
Currently, there is no single, shared strategic view of how commercial centres work together across council boundaries - or how they should evolve as the sub-region continues to grow and change. This strategy is about creating that shared direction.
What the strategy will do
The Commercial Centres Strategy will provide a shared, sub-regional framework to guide how commercial centres across the WBOP function and grow over time.
It will:
- Clarify the intended roles and functions of commercial centres across the WBOP sub-region, including city, metropolitan, town, and local centres, now and into the future
- Examine how centres support economic activity, employment, services, and accessibility
- Identify key issues, challenges, and opportunities facing commercial centres as the subregion grows and changes
- Establish high-level principles and strategic direction to inform future planning, infrastructure, and investment decisions
- Support better alignment between commercial development, and growth, transport, housing and infrastructure planning
Importantly, this strategy does not change existing zoning, land-use rights, or planning rules.
Instead, it will sit alongside other strategic direction and help inform future spatial planning and zoning decisions, including the future Regional Spatial Plans and Land Use Plans under central government’s resource management reforms.
This is a strategic, high-level piece of work that provides guidance and direction rather than regulatory change.
Our approach
We’re taking a staged, evidence-led approach to developing the strategy.
The first step has been commissioning an economic study to better understand how local and sub-regional markets across the WBOP sub-region are expected to grow and change over time. This study will help identify the likely scale, location, and type of future commercial growth, and the role different centres may play across the sub-region over time.
Alongside this technical work, we are engaging with key stakeholders - including developers, landowners, business representatives, economic development agencies, tangata whenua, and other strategic partners - to test the study’s insights and gather practical insights.
Using this information, we’ll identify the key issues and opportunities facing commercial centres across the sub-region. From there, we’ll develop principles to guide how commercial land and centres are planned, used and developed in the future.
We’ll also prepare a sub-regional centres map that shows:
- The current locations and types of commercial centres, and
- Where new or evolving centres may be needed over time to best support communities and economic activity.
This mapping will build on the indicative Centres Strategy in SmartGrowth 2024–2074, providing greater clarity and detail at a sub-regional scale.
Timeline
Early 2026:
- Finalise the economic study. The study aims to understand how commercial markets across the WBOP sub-region are expected to grow and change, and to help identify the likely future role and function of different commercial centres.
- Undertake targeted engagement with key stakeholders across the WBOP sub-region.
Mid-2026:
- Develop an early draft Commercial Centres Strategy, drawing on technical analysis and stakeholder feedback.
Post-2026: - An early version of the draft Strategy will be shared with the wider community for feedback.
Next steps:
- Further timing will be confirmed once there is greater certainty around resource management reforms which will influence this strategy.
Have questions, or keen to kōrero?
If you’d like to get in touch, ask a question, or find out more about this work:
Call us: 0800 926 732
Email: info@westernbay.govt.nz
