Response to a request for an inquiry

20 December 2024: We were asked to inquire into Tauranga City Council’s decision to sell the Tauranga Marine Precinct. The matter is now before the courts and, in light of that, we will not carry out an inquiry.
We were asked by MP Sam Uffindell to inquire into Tauranga City Council’s decision to sell the Tauranga Marine Precinct. We have replied to Mr Uffindell, setting out information about our role and mandate and explaining that we will not carry out inquiry work while the matter is before the courts. 

Given the public interest in this matter, the text of our letter is set out below.

18 December 2024

Sam Uffindell MP
Member of Parliament for Tauranga
Parliament Buildings
WELLINGTON 6160

Tēnā koe Mr Uffindell

Tauranga City Council Marine Precinct sale

Thank you for your letter dated 12 November 2024 raising concerns about Tauranga City Council’s (the Council’s) decision to sell the Tauranga Marine Precinct and asking our Office to commence an inquiry. We also refer to your meeting with the Auditor-General on 6 November 2024.

Concerns about the Council’s decision 

In your letter and during your earlier meeting with the Auditor-General, your concerns included:

  • The Council sold the Tauranga Marine Precinct for an amount (about $14 million) significantly less than what you consider it could be worth.
  • Before the sale:
    • there was no open market sale process to provide assurance that the best price was obtained for ratepayers;
    • there did not appear to be a clear business case about the benefits that a wharf to support superyachts would bring to Tauranga;
    • the Council reclassified the Marine Precinct from being a strategic asset to a non-strategic asset; and
    • the Council did not consult people affected by, or who have an interest in, the sale (including the commercial fishing operators that currently use the Precinct and will be displaced by the sale).
  • The Council’s alternative wharf location for those displaced operators may not accommodate the size of some existing vessels. You also say that building a new wharf will cost the Council an additional $29 million.
  • It is unclear how the proceeds of the sale will be used (that is, whether they will be used to reduce debt on the marine precinct or repurposed towards Te Manawataki o Te Papa Civic Precinct in Tauranga’s central business district).

Our view

We have carefully considered the matters that you have raised and note that similar issues have been raised by other correspondents. We have seen the resolutions of the Council meeting dated 23 October 2024. 

The decision to sell the land

This Office has a range of functions that help Parliament and the public to hold public organisations to account for their performance and use of public money. Those functions include annual audits of all public organisations, monitoring expenditure against parliamentary appropriations, in-depth audits of the performance of public organisations, and carrying out inquiries into concerns about the use of public resources.

It is not our role to express a view about the merits of a particular decision or the policy behind that decision. In this case, the Council’s decision to sell the land and find alternative wharf facilities for operators, and how it will use the proceeds of the sale, are policy choices for the Council to make.

However, our work can include examining whether a public organisation has followed an appropriate or agreed process in making a particular decision, including whether it has taken steps to ensure value for money. 

The process for selling the land

As you will be aware, on 21 November 2024 one of the fishing fleet operators successfully applied to the High Court for an injunction to stop the sale of the Precinct and has filed for judicial review of the Council’s process for selling the land.

We consider it is appropriate for the Court to consider the issues and, in light of that, we will not carry out inquiry work while those proceedings are before the Court. 

General 

Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. We will be maintaining a watching brief as this progresses. Given the public interest in this matter, we intend to publish this letter on our website.

Nāku noa, nā

David Lemmon
Inquiries Manager