Upper North Island Strategic Alliance (UNISA)
Prior to and immediately following the last local government triennial election, Waikato Regional Council raised with neighbouring regions the idea of working closer together. We were encouraged to draft an agreement which was expanded by Auckland to include Northland and the main urban centres of each region. This became known as the Upper North Island Strategic Alliance (UNISA).
UNISA Agreement
The purpose of the UNISA Agreement is to establish a long-term collaboration between the Auckland Council (AC), Bay of Plenty Regional Council (BPRC), Northland Regional Council (NRC), Waikato Regional Council (WRC), Hamilton City Council (HCC), Tauranga City Council (TCC) and Whangarei District Council (WDC) for responding to and managing a range of inter-regional and inter-metropolitan issues.
The ‘first order’ priorities for inter-regional collaboration are:
- economic development linkages
- transport, including rail, roads, freight
- ports, including inland ports
- tourism
- emergency preparedness
- waste
- water
- population and settlement patterns, liveability
- commercial and industrial land development
- international connectivity and competitiveness – air, sea, broadband
- energy security
- climate change, including greenhouse gas emission reductions.
You can read the full UNISA Agreement online.
Current focus
The following four background papers have been prepared for UNISA, in relation to the upper North Island:
Opportunities to grow the economy (366 kb)
Opportunities for transport (243 kb)
Opportunities for port networks (94 kb)
Opportunities for tourism (69 kb)