The Te Kūiti Hamiltonian

The population of Hamilton has grown 55 per cent as it has matured from a rural support town to a metropolitan city. Chris Gardner talks to the man who has a ringside seat.

Hamilton is New Zealand’s fastest growing city. Photo: Hamilton and Waikato Tourism.

When Blair Bowcott joined Hamilton City Council in 1999, the city’s population was 119,400.

Quarter of a century later it’s up to 185,300 and is now the fastest growing city in the country – and its population the youngest – which makes Bowcott’s job as general manager of growth an influential one.

Hamilton has grown up and established its space on the national spectrum, Bowcott said.

“We’ve clearly stamped our mark as a metropolitan city.”

Metropolitan in the context of the region’s wider economic engine of Cambridge, Huntly, Morrinsville, Ngāruawāhia, Taupiri and Te Awamutu.

Born in Te Kūiti, he joined the council as finance and administration unit manager in 1999. He has filled several positions in the local authority, including acting chief executive after Michael Redman left in 2010 and before Barry Harris started less than a year later.

Meet Blair Bowcott

Blair Bowcott

Blair Bowcott was born and raised in Te Kūiti but considers himself a Hamiltonian.

He graduated from Waikato University in 1990 with a BMS Hons in Accountancy and Finance after attending Te Kūiti High School in Years 9 and 10 and Hamilton Boys High School in Years 11 to 13.

After university, Bowcott worked for Ernst & Young becoming a qualified chartered accountant, then worked as an accountant for Fletcher Aluminium.

Bowcott joined Hamilton City Council as finance and administration manager in 1999 before serving as acting general manager of corporate services between September and December 2007 when he became deputy chief executive and general manager of programme and finance.

He was acting chief executive from November 2010 until April 2011 when he became general manager of performance.

From 2015 he served as executive director of special projects and became general manager of growth three years ago.

“When I came here, we were growing but it was very much Hamilton thinking about itself, it wasn’t really in conjunction with the other partners,” he said.

Rototuna was a smaller residential development than it is now, and there were large rural areas between the CBD and the city boundary, particularly around Rotokauri, Te Rapa North and Peacocke in the south.

“Hamilton had a lot of rural areas within that boundary, so the conversations then were that we engaged with our neighbours, but we weren’t really running up against them, because we all had land to spare and infrastructure capacity,” Bowcott said.

“Now Hamilton is building out to the boundary on most fronts, so any conversation around further growth of Hamilton really is in partnership with neighbouring councils.

“Now we’re all about boundaryless planning, boundaryless thinking, boundaryless solutions, working with our neighbouring partners, councils, iwi, councils, and government around how we think about it and build the city of the future. The conversations are far more encompassing.”

The conversation has become more prescriptive since the Local Government Act introduced the promotion of cultural, economic, environmental and social well-beings.

“The whole framework in terms of how we build, and deliver has changed. The scale of the conversation, the numbers, the challenges and opportunities are just that much bigger. Our conversations with the government are as a partner, as an influencer, whereas back then it was a more of a recipient.”

The council’s relationship with Waikato Tainui has also matured following the $170 million Treaty of Waitangi settlement of 1995, the completion of 87,000 square metre shopping centre called The Base in 2010, and the 30ha Ruakura Inland port operated in a joint venture with Port of Tauranga.

“They are a major investor partner in the city and that has been the fundamental change,” he said.

“The Base has been massive, but the inland port was that next level of maturity. The inland port has really changed how Hamilton is seen as well. It’s brought a new sector to the economy. The opportunity was always there, and you saw that with their Te Rapa development. It’s great to see where the partnership is now.”

So how has Hamilton growth impacted the surrounding districts?

“Our location, our natural offerings, our way of life, has been a big driver for growth,” Bowcott said.

“I think of the Māori proverb ‘a rising tide lifts all boats’. We’ve all lifted with that growth. You’ve seen it with the satellite towns to Hamilton: Cambridge, Te Awamutu, Te Kowhai, Whatawhata, Ngāruawāhia, Tamahere, Matangi. It’s all really rising off that wider economic eco system. The Waikato Expressway has been a major enabler for Cambridge, it has opened and given Hamilton a different perspective.”

As satellite communities grow, Bowcott is concerned it is done in an integrated and planned way.

“We plan together, we think about where likely supply will come from and what the demand is, and we ensure that we are all working together to provide that. It’s been great to see the vibrancy of those towns lift. We obviously have a massive rural residential population around the city. In the last decade we have worked with the neighbouring councils to limit the amount of that residential around the city. We want to ensure that the city can expand in the future, and some of those rural residential settlements on the boundary make it quite challenging, some of that may be on the highest valued land which may be better used for rural purposes, as opposed to being carved up.”

Bowcott gave Co-Lab and Future Proof as examples of the council working with other local territorial authorities and, in the case of Future Proof, iwi and government departments as well.

Co-Lab is a council-controlled organisation that helps members share opportunities, and Future Proof, a forum for councils, iwi and government departments which next meets on September 5, is an example of joined up thinking.

“That partnership thinks about growth in an integrated manner, how we join up and deliver solutions together, including transportation,” Bowcott said.

“It’s important when we think about growth, and partnership with iwi, and councils, it’s not just about the land use, it’s about how we fund the infrastructure that enables that land use.”

“The rate of growth is putting extreme pressure on our systems.”

With that pressure has come high expectations.

“Community expectations of the city have lifted. People expect the environment to be highly respected, high-quality amenity, good transport connections, good community facilities. The scale of what we now think about today, versus what we were dealing with back then, are just that much bigger. The implications are that much larger because of our population, our size, what we’re thinking about is bigger as well.”

Twenty years ago, Temple View was absorbed into the Hamilton city boundaries from Waipa District. Bowcott described the absorption of further settlements on the city boundary such as Matangi, Newstead, Ngāhinapōuri, Ōhaupō, Rukuhia, Tamahere and Tauwhare as “highly politically challenging”.

“There will be some targeted expansions of the boundary around the city where areas are identified for growth. But a significant reach out to capture villages and communities will be a far bigger conversation driven by other factors.

“There have been various organisations calling for reform of local government and consolidation that may occur in the future.”

Water reform with joined up entities, for example.

“I’m not sitting here saying let’s try and expand and capture those villages, I’m saying let’s work with those councils really closely to understand their aspirations for those communities and how they best connect in with Hamilton and how we can deliver joined up solutions.”