Figures being used to encourage the city councillors' decisions on investing the Civic Spaces Project have been challenged by councillor John Robson.

Council won't be rushed on leaking buildings. Photo: file.

The ‘economic evidence' is that Tauranga is struggling, while performing well, relative to comparable cities.

Staff say Tauranga's GDP growth from 2006-13 is 2.4 per cent for the city centre and for the city itself 2.2 percent. That is higher than the New Zealand average which is 1.61 percent.

Looking at GDP for Tauranga during the period of 2001-2013, Tauranga grew at three per cent, and Hamilton grew at 0.4 per cent. Hutt City's growth during the same period was two per cent.

'My point is that to say that Tauranga is struggling when it is generally performing well, seems to be a statement at odds with the evidence and I appreciate there is an influence of the perception of retail that dominates discussion.

'But the economic evidence is our city is doing better than any other city in the country. I'm concerned when arguments in a logic document are not supported by the evidence. That's my concern.”

General strategy manager Christine Jones says the city's productivity is considerably lower than the national average.

'My point is for the first time the city centre is out-performing the city as a whole,” says John. 'It is a positive marker for the recent period, and when you look at productivity we must base ourselves and make comparisons on comparable centres.

'Our city is performing very well. How can we sustain two narratives? We are booming. We are doing really well, yet when it comes to spending money: ‘The place is a basket case we need to throw some money in to make a change.'

Mayor Stuart Crosby told John it's depended on how aspirational he was.

'I think there's a lot more aspiration in the city, that we have at the moment. What is average? Do you accept average? We all know there a lot more capability in CBD.”

The issue arose in discussion of the Civic Spaces Project and the decision to proceed with the next stage of the project.

Councillors Steve Morris and Leanne Brown don't want the council rushed on the beginning part of the process.

Steve says issues with the two previous civic buildings showed the wisdom of ‘doing it once and doing it properly'.

'I don't want to see us making a rushed decision for the sake of the next few months that could affect the next hundred years,” says Steve. 'Once we go through this process then we can act swiftly and decisively.

Leanne says the Civic Action Group is putting pressure on councillors.

'I feel they are putting pressure on us to make a quick decision and that would be by everybody, but this is part of a really big picture and a big opportunity for us. A significant investment, and we need to do it once and well.”

When it came to the vote, John Robson voted against it.

In the better business case process adopted by the council the initial framing stage the thinking stage is critical and he says TCC councillors are being rushed through it without enough thinking time.

'I feel we have not had sufficient time or breadth of input into that stage for me to be comfortable with what's been framed as a strategic assessment going forward. I don't think we have put the time in.”

Councillor Gail McIntosh argued if they did not keep up a pace, the project would become an election year issue and perhaps suffer the same fate as the museum project.

The next stage of the project is developing a long list of options for council accommodation, as well assessing how the project could be a catalyst for other opportunities.

The next step also determines the scale of the project, including scoping options of what the project will comprise, how it will be delivered and who will be involved in the delivery.