6 | REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Ashburton District Council & EA Networks Kelly Deeks Rural sector drives economic growth A high milk payout and beef and lamb prices have contributed to boost economic growth in the Ashburton district. Mid Canterbury’s strong agricultural sector and particularly its dairy industry are continuing to drive economic growth in the Ashburton District, with this season’s high milk payout and beef and lamb prices cited as major contributors to a $500 million increase in GDP in the last quarter. “We have a stable economy,” says Ashburton District Mayor Neil Brown. “A lot of the other businesses in the district are very connected with the agriculture industry, and when agriculture does well, everything does well.” Further favourable figures can be seen in Ashburton District’s latest regional economic profile from Infometrics, which shows tourism is back, and the Ashburton District is excited to have welcomed 16% more tourists in the past 12 months. As the home of the Mt Hutt ski field and a number of other amazing tourism operators, this lift in tourism comes from international tourists as well as day-trippers from Christchurch and Timaru. The Ōpuke Thermal Pools and Spa, opened about a year ago in Methven, has been a highlight of these day trips, and Methven accommodation has benefited hugely from that. Job Seeker Support is down 14% and the current unemployment rate is sitting at 2.3%. “This is great if you’re looking for a job, but it also puts pressure on businesses to find staff,” says Ashburton District Council CE Hamish Riach. “This is a New Zealand wide thing, and it’s fair to say we are all in the same boat. There is a real need to release the safety net now, and immigration is one of the tools the Government has to alleviate that pressure,” adds Mayor Neil. And Ashburton is ready to welcome new people to the district, with residential new build consents up 24%, and all building consents up 10% for the final quarter of 2022. “The New Zealand average was 7%, which gives us an indication of the amount of confidence in our economy,” says Mayor Neil. “Our house values have lifted 18% for the year, and the New Zealand average was 2%.” Ashburton District Council is suffering skill shortages of its own, still is determined to get these consents through the system, either meeting the statutory time limit on the building consent process or missing it by only a few days. “The other thing about housing in Ashburton is we are still really affordable. We’ve got this amazing environment which is really vibrant, our houses are really good solid houses, and people are seeing Ashburton as a really good place to live. Average current house values are $530,000, compared with $964,000 for New Zealand, and $731,000 for the Canterbury region.” Ashburton District Council is in the early stages of a new programme focused on bringing in training providers from other locations and making them available for people in the district. “One of the barriers to learning in Ashburton is travel, so we’re looking to progress that with a number of training outfits to make more courses available in the district,” Hamish says. Mayor Neil adds the local Te Pūkenga (formerly Ara Institute of Canterbury) campus is a small institute and could be enhanced. “We already know we lose a lot of our young people who leave in search of tertiary education. Once they leave, we’ve got to attract them back.” Neil is now happily entrenched into his second term as Mayor of Ashburton, and all but four councillors have also returned. The four newly elected councillors replace four who retired. Council has jumped straight back into projects that were initiated last term, including the new Library and Civic Centre on Baring Street East. Mayor Neil and the councillors have also been petitioning Government for the construction of a second urban bridge across the Ashburton River, after the floods of 2021 highlighted the vulnerability of the town and indeed the whole South Island. “The existing bridge took a few days to repair after the floods, and that basically cut the South Island in half. It also split our community in half, because Tinwald is on the other side of the bridge and there are not many services out there, no ambulance, no hospital, no police.” Mayor Neil and the Council would also like to see Government provide more support to those affected by Fresh Water policy changes and He Waka Eke Noa. “Agriculture is the backbone of the Ashburton District and these policies could affect us quite severely if people have to reduce production, or cut animal numbers and plant trees instead. Businesses that are impacted by that legislation need to be supported to make the changes required. Not legislative support, we need tactile support as well. Many Canterbury farmers are already well ahead of climate change reform, as Farm Environment Plans are now being rolled out throughout New Zealand, farmers in Ashburton and Canterbury have already been doing them for the past five years.
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