Introducing The Upper North Island Strategic Alliance (UNISA)

Established in 2011, UNISA responds to and manages a range of inter-regional and inter-metropolitan issues. Members consists of Northland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty Regional Councils, Auckland Council, Whangarei District Council and Hamilton and Tauranga City Councils. Mayors and Chairs from the respective regions make up the alliance.

The Upper North Island is critical to the success of New Zealand. It supports 53 per cent of the national population and generates 52 per cent of the country’s GDP. Growth is increasing rapidly which has many benefits for the country, but brings with it a range of challenges that councils need to work together to solve. The seven councils have an agreement in place which confirms their commitment to understanding and tackling these inter-regional challenges. The agreement was re-signed in March 2017 and January 2020.

Read the full UNISA agreement here [PDF, 200 KB].

Find out more about UNISA and its value proposition here. [PDF, 212 KB]

Download the 2019 UNISA Winter Update PDF [342 KB]

Read the updated Upper North Island Story 2019-2020 [PDF, 1.23 MB]

UNISA Projects

UNI Key Sector Trends and Labour Demand Report

Co-ordinated action is needed to ensure that the right amounts and kinds of workers are available to support growth in
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Independent Port Study

On 6 March 2012, Auckland Council’s Auckland Plan Committee (the Committee) made resolutions about the long-term role of Auckland ports
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The Upper North Island Freight Story

The purpose of the Upper North Island Freight Story is to take a partnership approach within an upper North Island
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Industrial Land Demand Study

The Freight Story identified approximately 13,000 hectares of industrial land being either currently available or planned for future provision in
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