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Striving for our community thriving
‘Thrive Wairarapa’ An Economic Development Strategy for 2022 - 2030 and beyond.
Foreword
The refreshed WEDS was launched in November 2022, following extensive public consultation and analysis of the economic challenges and opportunities for our Region. The strategy introduced a ‘leveraged’ approach by pooling resouces and fostering collaboration across partner agencies. A huge amount of experience has been gained by taking a ‘Wairarapa-Inc’ approach to economic development. These lessons will be taken forward into the new WEDS operation for the 2024-2027 period.
The NZ economy is struggling in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. High inflation, low business confidence, skills shortages and immigration trends are wreaking havoc nationwide. In the Wairarapa, a summer drought, low meat export prices and falling demand for wood are creating challenging conditions for the Primary and Manufacturing sectors – Wairarapa’s largest conributors to GDP. Similar challenges are faced by local households with the rising cost of living, low consumer spending, falling visitor numbers and rising unemployment.
With this outlook in mind, WEDS will take a leaner and more focused approach for the next term. This will see efforts narrowed down to Water Resilience, Workforce Development and support for the Primary Sector (Food & Fibre).
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the Strategy
What we are trying to achieve
A close study of the Wairarapa economy and community illustrates a number of key characteristics of the region which help define the direction of the refreshed Wairarapa Economic Development Strategy (WEDS).
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Action Plan
How we are going to do it
Opportunities, which focus on growing comparative advantage, and enablers, which focus on building resilience are assigned to five primary areas of focus which allow us to group together complementary workstreams. Workstreams are likely to cut across more then one focus area, using available resources to build collectively towards the whole.
If we are successful, we will see:
Active Iwi/community relationships
• An active Iwi/Māori economy
• A shared sense of direction built on mutual respect
• Opportunities for collaboration on joint initiatives
Enterprise improvement
• More businesses
• Improved employer skills
• Greater use of digital capabilites
Environmental improvement
• Restoration of forests and wetlands
• Improved water quality in lakes and rivers
• Improved soil quality
Prosperity improvement
• Rising household incomes
More jobs, better training
• Rising skill levels
• Jobs to match
Low carbon economy
• Playing our part in creating a new
low carbon economy
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areas of focus
Key Priorities
There are two ways to help the Wairarapa achieve its vision to thrive: opportunities, which focuses on growing comparative advantage, and enablers, which focuses on building resilience. These strategies are assigned to five primary focus areas which will be our key priorities moving forward.
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development
Skills & Workforce Groups
There is almost a perfect storm in the skills and recruitment field resulting in acute shortages of labour at all skill levels right across the Wairarapa economy. There are strenuous efforts being made to remedy this situation and urgent support is required. WEDS will support and enable the Regional Skills Leadership Group (RSLG) to implement the refreshed workforce plan, where the goal is to grow the Wairarapa workforce by 2000 people by 2030.
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