Waitematā Local Board I Te Poari ā-Rohe o Waitematā

This consultation closed on 13 August 2020. Thank you for having your say.

We received 331 pieces of feedback.

These included:

• 113 submissions through our online form
• 211 hard copy submissions, around 130 of these came from targeted youth engagement
• Seven pieces of feedback through our social media channels.

Key feedback themes

In general, we received good support, with 53% of people saying the plan reflected community’s needs and aspirations quite well, and 27% saying it did that very well.

There was support for:

• our environment and climate change response
• transport, particularly active transport modes such as walking and cycling
• community events and activities
• local businesses’ recovery from the impact of COVID-19.
• support for tree planting and sustainability initiatives.

Top outcomes

The top three outcomes included:

• a future-focused, green and climate change resilient Waitematā (66%)
• sustainable transport network that is safe and accessible (64%)
• high quality urban development that has accessible, versatile, and sustainable public and private spaces (48%)

Top initiatives

People selected the following top three initiatives under the ‘connected communities that are inclusive and equitable’ outcome.

This will help us prioritise the delivery of initiatives over the next three years:

• partner with agencies to respond to homelessness in the city centre (47%)
• work with community groups to connect people across generations and diverse cultures (46%)
• support community-led projects for energy efficiency and reduced emissions (42%)

In addition, people thought we should do more to respond to Climate Heating (67%).

They also thought the plan would help the community and local businesses recover from COVID-19 (52%)

Changes we made as a result of feedback

• Feedback highlighted the impacts of light and noise pollution in the city centre on residents and an increase in anti-social behaviour and crime in certain areas.
• We have therefore acknowledged these as challenges in our quality urban development outcome.
• We received a number of requests to increase play equipment for older children in local parks so we now focus on providing equipment for older children and teenagers.
• We also specifically address the need for teenagers and young adults to have space to make connections.
• Some were concerned that we didn’t prioritise heritage enough. To respond to this, we have added a new initiative to our objective to ‘Treasure and protect our heritage buildings and structures’.
• We will continue to advocate to the Governing Body to allocate adequate funds for heritage but this now includes funds to identify as well as restore and preserve heritage buildings and structures.
• While the sixth outcome about the economy was not singled out as a top outcome, we received many comments about supporting businesses to recover from COVID-19. We therefore modified the outcome to focus on local businesses.
• We have also strengthened the emphasis on diversity by acknowledging specific communities and our focus to support mana whenua interest.

What happens next

We adopted the Waitematā Local Board Plan 2020 on 3 November 2020. You can view a copy of the final plan on our website.

More information

If you have any questions related to this project, email us.

Thank you to everyone who shared ideas, insights and gave feedback on what the Waitematā Local Board should include in their next three-year plan. It has been great to hear from you and see your creative ideas and passion for your communities and neighbourhoods.

Who we heard from

In addition to receiving your ideas and feedback here on this site, we held seven workshops and focus groups. We partnered with community groups to meet with those we may not traditionally hear from, such as our Chinese communities, and to have much needed conversations about climate change. We also heard about the benefits and challenges of living in the city centre.

We met with many of you face to face at nine public events such as the Myers Park Medley, Grey Lynn Festival, Big Gay Out, the Santa Parade, Orientation week at Auckland University and Uptown Sounds in Basque Park.

What you said

These are some of the key themes we heard from the feedback received:

• Climate change: we need to respond to climate change through waste minimisation, supporting sustainable communities and businesses, using renewable energy sources, supporting agrichemical free parks, urban forests and low carbon lifestyles
• Inclusive communities: celebrate and support the diversity of our community with more cultural programmes, events, increased accessibility in terms of language, mobility with a focus on families, youth and the homeless
• Transport: more affordable options to get around including cycle lanes, pedestrian friendly town centres, and more buses
• Places: more play and exercise equipment in parks as well as shade, shelter, drinking fountains and greater security. Better connected, multi-use public places with more amenities like toilets and lockers
• Heritage: protect our heritage, such as Leys Institute and celebrate it by including te reo in signage and Māori in public art and design.

What happens next?

All 21 of Auckland’s local boards are developing their new 2020 Local Board Plans based on what we heard and from other inputs such as the Auckland Plan 2050, Long Term Plan, and Annual Budget.

We have yet to fully determine the social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on our communities and it may mean some of our plans and aspirations may need to change as a result. Our response will be delivered via the annual budgeting process but the decisions we make will focus on ensuring the benefits for our community.

In July we will come back to you with an opportunity to have your say on the draft Waitematā Local Board Plan. We will be back in touch when phase two opens.

Stay safe - kia kaha