Minister tells Bay of Plenty Regional Council to Halt Quayside Changes

Local Government Minister Simon Watts has urged the Bay of Plenty Regional Council to hold off on major decisions affecting Quayside Holdings until local government reforms are finalised.

The Local Government Minister has written to the Bay of Plenty Regional Council following a decision to change the board arrangements for Quayside Holdings Ltd - urging the council to defer further decisions while local government reforms are underway.

The BoPRC decided to progressively reduce the size of the Quayside Holdings Board from seven to five members, from September 2026.

The changes also included the resignation of Bay of Plenty Regional Council chief executive Fiona McTavish as a Quayside director and the reappointment of director David Fear.

Regional Council chair Matemoana McDonald said Quayside manages assets of regional significance on behalf of Bay of Plenty communities and the council had a responsibility to ensure its governance arrangements remained fit for purpose, efficient and cost-effective.

The council said Quayside's mandate and investment approach remain unchanged, with the company continuing to actively manage its portfolio in line with its long-term objectives and value realisation strategy. 

However, in a letter sent to McDonald last week, Local Government Minister Simon Watts expressed concern about the council's proposed changes to Quayside's future governance and investment portfolio.

Watts said the timing of the changes was concerning, given the Government had made it clear that the current structure of local government was "no longer fit for purpose" and the Head Start process for local government reform was already well underway.

Councils should refrain from making significant long-term decisions affecting key regional assets until there is greater certainty about the outcome of those reforms, he said. 

Watts also described the reduction in independent expertise on the Quayside Holdings Board following last week's decisions as "concerning".

He urged the council to defer any decisions relating to its investment holdings and instead focus on "the stewardship of local assets and continue to work closely with the local territorial authorities within the Bay of Plenty region" during the Head Start process.

East Coast MP Dana Kirkpatrick said six Bay of Plenty Councils had written to the minister expressing concern about the timing and significance of the decisions regarding community owned assets.

"The council should wait and should understand what the local government structure looks like in the Bay of Plenty at large before it decides on how or if it needs to change the Quayside Holdings investment,"

"The question is why Bay of Plenty Regional Council is progressing significant structural changes to community-owned assets when there is such clear concern from local leaders."

Kirkpatrick said Quayside, which manages the Regional Council's investment portfolio including its majority shareholding in Port of Tauranga, generates significant returns that are reinvested into the Bay of Plenty and help subsidise regional rates.

"There is a significant concern amongst the councils that this might not be part of its future if it changes."

"But the bigger question at the moment is that we don't know what the local government structure will look like in the Bay of Plenty and until that is completed and finalised, we cannot understand how Quayside or whatever that might turn out to be should best be functioning going forward."

"Ratepayers deserve confidence that major decisions about regional assets are being made in their best interests and will deliver long-term value for their communities," she said. 

Kirkpatrick said the Minister  was asking the council to pause work on the Holdings until the future Governance of the Bay of Plenty becomes clearer. 

"I think it's reasonable to ask why the council wasn't listening to the communities and local leaders that it is meant to represent across the Bay of Plenty.

"I think the minister is being clear that he would like the regional council to halt the continuation of any work on this at this point in time," she said. 

Bay of Plenty Regional Council has been contacted for comment.