The future progression of Tauranga City may lie in some form of council amalgamation with the Western Bay of Plenty if discussions at today's City Leaders Annual Lunch are anything to go by.

Hosted by Tauranga Chamber of Commerce, the annual event held at Trinity Wharf saw Tauranga MP Simon Bridges, Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby and Carrus Corporation managing director Paul Adams take to the stand.

Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby and Carrus Corporation managing director Paul Adams speak at today's lunch.

The trio addressed more than 100 guests, aiming to educate, inspire and connect with the city's business community.

Speaking about his vision for Tauranga, Paul describes the city as 'teetering on excellence” or 'mediocrity calling for more action from Tauranga City Council” to reap the rewards of a city in growth mode.

Paul remains confident amalgamation between TCC and Western Bay of Plenty District Council is inevitable, despite WBOP recently appointing Miriam Taris as its new chief executive.

The appointment sinks Paul's talks of appointing TCC chief executive Gary Poole in the role.

'The sooner we have one system, one set of rules and some wider strategic thinking for the combined Tauranga and Western Bay region, the sooner the efficiencies and increased purchasing power our region will flow through.

'Without it we will continue with the parochial attitudes between council playing lip service on joint initiatives.”

Mayor Stuart Crosby supports a move towards amalgamation but remains cautious when formulating any form of the role between parties.

He highlights out of 16 amalgamation attempts throughout NZ in the past only Banks Peninsula in Christchurch has been successful.

Any form and function of Local Government must be evidence-based and sustainable because council will only get one shot at it, says Stuart.

'When considering Local Government Reform we also need to remember that in the end Local Government is about people. If we through reform create large faceless entities that the community feels are unreachable, the risk of undermining our social capital is huge.

'It is going to need some courageous and honest conversations with each other. And this is not the time for spin, conspiracy theories or knee jerk reactions; this is a very serious topic.”

Affordable housing was another hot topic, with Paul saying the issue needs facing now.

Just like the rest of New Zealand, the region is suffering a housing shortfall, he says, caused by anti-development attitudes, tighter building regulations and artificial restrictions on land supply.

'It's my contention that TCC is artificially restricting the supply of housing because of its inability to fund core infrastructure and get works.

'Central Government should incentivise local council to support development with an agreed target that if reached in a timely fashion qualifies for incentive payments.”

According to Paul, in 1874 New Zealand produced 35,000 houses, declining to an average 15,000 per year since the 1980s. These figures are made worse when population growth is taken into account.

He says the residential building process is lagging by about 10,000 new homes per year.

And just like Auckland's housing woes, Tauranga and the Western Bay could soon face similar predicaments if leaders do not keep supply ahead of demand.

'There is a demand for quicker development in housing in Tauranga, and there are developers and building companies ready to take up such opportunity and this should be supported by council.”