Shaping High Street's future

Between July and August 2025, we shared three design ideas for High Street’s future, shaped by the Community Aspirations (what we heard in 2024).

Thank you to everyone who provided their input. The engagement report is now available. It summarises what we heard and what happens next.

How we engaged

We’ve been working closely with the community to help shape the future of High Street through a staged engagement process. Earlier engagement focused on understanding people’s experiences, ideas and aspirations for the street. This informed the development of three design ideas - what we asked for feedback on from July to August 2025.

July to October 2024

We spoke with businesses, residents, property owners and people who spend time on High Street to understand what works well, what could be improved, and what a good future for the street could look like.

This included interviews, on-street conversations, pop-up activations and an online survey.

• Collected almost 1,500 pieces of feedback, including 392 online surveys
• Over 92 per cent of survey respondents identified at least one thing they liked about High Street
• 96 per cent of respondents noted at least one area that needed improvement

Read more about Phase 1 and 2 engagement in Summary of public engagement: July to October 2024 report.

Through this engagement, we defined nine key Community Aspirations for High Street’s future.

Three Priority Community Aspirations

March 2025

We spoke to a range of people on High Street to understand loading and servicing requirements. These insights helped shape design ideation.

July to August 2025

We engaged the High Street community on three Design Ideas for the street’s future.

Each idea:

• responded to the Community Aspirations - what we’ve heard from businesses, residents and visitors to High Street
• reflected different ways the street could support how people live, move, shop, dine and connect
• presented a different level of change – from a lighter upgrade to a larger transformation
• varied in cost and approach to construction
• included a proposal to restrict vehicle access on High Street between 11am-2pm on weekdays, when pedestrian activity is highest

We wanted to understand:

• How well each design idea supports the Community Aspirations
• What works well and what needs further thought
• Whether construction impacts are manageable
• How well each idea balances Community Aspirations, cost and construction impact
• How timed vehicle access (restrictions between 11am to 2pm weekdays) supports the Community Aspirations
• Whether timed access should be considered at other times

View the Three Design Ideas

Who we heard from

We aimed to hear from a wide range of people who use High Street, including those who live, work, run businesses, own property, or visit the area. This included a mix of local businesses and property owners, as well as visitors, shoppers and commuters.

How people participated

How we heard from people

Community feedback is an important input into the decision making and business case process.

The engagement report will be considered alongside technical advice, economic analysis, mana whenua values, and the project’s objectives to understand both the potential benefits and impacts of the project.

We expect to share an update on the recommended design direction in Mid 2026, following engagement with the Waitematā Local Board. A final decision will be made by the Policy, Planning and Development Committee.

There will be further opportunities for the community to provide feedback as the project progresses.