News & Results
Evolving toward a Play, Active Recreation and Sport Strategy for the Bay of Plenty
Key to Sport Bay of Plenty’s strategic plans to 2026 is the aspiration to work with territorial authorities and key community stakeholders to develop a Play, Active Recreation and Sport (PARS) Strategy for the Bay of Plenty region.
The intent of the strategy is to provide a high-level framework to guide coordinated decision-making and smart investment into multipurpose and sustainable spaces and places that support play, active recreation and sport across our rohe.
“Unlike a Spaces and Places Strategy, which tends to focus on hard-infrastructure that primarily facilitates sport and recreation opportunities, a PARS Strategy takes a wider view and guides strategic decision making that helps best activate current and future spaces and places for all forms of physical activity,” explains Heidi Lichtwark, Chief Executive of Sport Bay of Plenty.
Alongside facility planning, councils would therefore also be guided to think about how to plan for a range of physical activity experiences, how to understand and best meet the diverse needs of communities and how to ensure integrated and sustainable spaces and places. In practice, this could mean planning for multipurpose facilities that are integrated with cycling and walking paths and incorporate natural and built play spaces in the surrounding area.
This holistic approach has several advantages, including more cost-effective investment, the ability to leverage or access new investment, better utilisation of spaces and places because they reflect the diverse physical activity needs of communities, and greater collaboration between councils, organisations and local communities.
Lichtwark is quick to point out, though, that a regional PARS Strategy does not replace district detail and local planning.
“The advantage of a regional strategic view alongside district detail and local planning is that it maximises the assets and play, active recreation and sport opportunities across the Bay of Plenty, and facilitates greater collaboration and coordination between councils.
“This in turn enables councils to make concise strategic decisions, have well-informed discussions alongside related organisations and develop plans with a cohesive direction that maximise community investment and support a range of local and regional physical activity opportunities.”
Throughout 2022 and 2023, Sport Bay of Plenty has been working with several councils on district-level PARS Strategies. Rotorua Lakes Council has drafted a PARS Strategy, and in August 2023 Tauranga City Council adopted an Action and Investment Plan that aims to improve play, active recreation and sport experiences across the city with the intent to increase physical activity levels.
Lichtwark acknowledges the evolution to a regional PARS Strategy will take time, but is excited by these developments within individual councils.
“I think this shift toward more holistic strategic thinking beyond bricks and mortar facility planning is reflective of councils’ responsibilities and aspirations for community wellbeing, and the powerful role physical activity plays in meeting those outcomes. Councils understand this potential and we’re starting to see it come through in things like play, active recreation and sport strategies.
“In the next 12 months we’ll be working alongside the six territorial authorities in our region to review the current Bay of Plenty Spaces and Places Strategy. This provides a great juncture for us to collectively discuss the many advantages of evolving Spaces and Places into a regional PARS Strategy by 2026.”
