Community Engages in Future Forum Process

The first of the Shaping Our Future Forums, focusing on the Economic Future and an Events strategy for the Queenstown Lakes District, have stimulated widespread debate with around 300 people attending the four forums held in Wanaka and Queenstown during the past two weeks.

Shaping Our Future is a community initiative designed to plan for a shared future vision for the district. It is led by partnerships with the Queenstown Lakes District Council, Wanaka and Queenstown Chambers of Commerce, Lake Wanaka Tourism and Destination Queenstown.

The programme has been developed by a voluntary community steering group and facilitated by Steve Henry of the Otago Polytechnic Centre for Sustainable Practice.

Steering Group spokesperson David Kennedy said the turnout at the first forums has been excellent with an outstanding quality of thinking contributed.

“People welcomed the process and contributed great ideas in good faith. There’s been a lot of work behind the scenes and we were very pleased to see people engage at the initial forum and really think about what the key economic drivers of the district have been and what they might be in the future.”

“The second forum focused on events and how they can support the economic vision. There were many ideas promoted and a lot of support for a central agency to guide development and strategy for events in the Queenstown Lakes district,” he said. “It was significant that many of the indicators for change suggested by those at the forums were mirrored in both Queenstown and Wanaka.”

Queenstown Lakes District Mayor Vanessa van Uden thanked people for getting involved.

“We hope all participants will see the value in continuing to be involved and that attendance numbers at future forums will grow as more people take part. The forums were high energy and inspiring. All types of people from our various communities engaged in conversations with each other. It was great to see people working together.”

Ms van Uden said the forums are an opportunity for everyone to be involved in a range of conversations about the things that are important to the entire district.

“They are a vital step in a process that takes advantage of the collective knowledge of individuals and organisations in the region to find solutions to issues towards a better future for everyone.”

The second Economic Future forums will be held in Queenstown on June 28 and Wanaka on June 30. The next Events forums are scheduled for Wanaka on July 5 and Queenstown on July 7.

The forums will involve reporting back from the first sessions, identifying the key issues highlighted by the participants. This will be followed at these and successive forums with a process to begin setting direction towards achieving a district wide vision for the Queenstown Lakes District.

For those who can’t attend, but are interested or want to contribute to the process, there is a blog at www.shapingourfuture.org.nz with more detail and conversation areas.