Crystal ball on Wellington
Celia Wade-BrownYou can have your say on Wellington’s future and I urge you to do just that. Submissions close on the Wellington 2040 strategy this Friday. It’s a vision of Wellington for the decades ahead, starting right now. It will feature triangular parks, laneways, open up the city-to-waterfront links and energise the Capital Precinct.
And of course, who could forget the Kent / Cambridge boulevard idea when Miley Cyrus was ‘pictured’ jogging along it!
We’re designing Wellington to be a place where talent wants to live, work and play. The economy is a crucial factor. Our draft Digital Strategy emphasises the growing importance of businesses being globally connected.
We’re far more than a government town. The challenge for us is to change the old perceptions. There have already been jobs cut from the public sector over the last couple of years, but we have still had an increase in GDP of about 1.4%. The public sector is hugely valued in Wellington, but we need to acknowledge that we’re already a diversified economy.
Only 14.5% of our GDP is directly government-related. Business services, communications, finance and insurance are all at least as large. We’ve also got the burgeoning film, TV and digital sector, and as the Hobbit ramps up production, we expect that industry to grow. The ‘greenest’ office sector is in Wellington.
Wellington City Council is working hard to support a more diversified economy. We’re pushing for more direct international flights to Wellington so that more regional offices can base here. We’re bringing on free Wi-fi for the whole CBD. And importantly, we’re organising the Business Innovation Growth Expo, at Parliament on September 14. It’s a chance to put our best and brightest in front of the national politicians and remind them that Wellington is where talent lives and businesses grow.
Go to www.wellington2040.co.nz and make yourself heard.









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