Kia ora and welcome to
Ahu Ake
– Waipā Community Spatial Plan
It is a very exciting time for us in the Waipā District as we partner with Mana Whenua and work with key stakeholders and our wider community to create our very first district-wide community spatial plan.
This will be a blueprint for the Waipā district for the next 30-plus years. It will provide the foundation for all of our future planning, help us identify opportunities for growth and investment and help us to prioritise where and how we invest.
It is also so much more than that, it’s about placemaking, shaping what we want our towns and villages to look and feel like. It’s about connecting people and the places they share, live, work, play and invest in, and it is about making our community a place to be proud of.
There’s a lot to consider when creating this plan including:
Our natural and built environments – this is our towns as well as our mountains, rivers and rural areas
The wellbeing of our communities and how well they could manage and recover from periods of change or disaster
How stable and resilient our economy is and well it can cope with change
Our phenomenal growth and its impacts on our district, and
The impacts of climate change.
We’ll use what you told us during the development of our vision and community outcomes and what we currently know about our district as a starting point. From there, we will need your help to develop the community spatial plan and help shape our future Waipā.
We can’t do this alone, after all this is your community. Together, we can successfully deliver on our vision to be the Home of Champions, and to build connected Waipā communities.
Garry DyetWaipā District Council Chief Executive
Thanks for signing-up!
We’ve been on the lookout for residents from across the district to sign-up to participate in our first ever World Café.
The World Café will bring community members together with Council staff and experts to discuss, collaborate and generate ideas on complex topics, such as growth, housing and the economy, in the spatial plan where we need further feedback.
More than 140 people, with a wide range of background and experiences of living in Waipā, put their hands up to take part, which is a fantastic result.
We are now in the process of selecting 40-45 participants from this wider group to take part in the World Café and share the views of their communities. You can find out more about how this process will be carried out by clicking on the button below.
We came to you
From mid-February to late March 2023, we visited 11 towns and villages across the district, including Te Pahū, Pukeatua, Karāpiro, Kihikihi, Rukuhia and Te Awamutu, and held 17 events where we spoke with hundreds of residents about what our future should look like.
We also held presentations and ran workshops with over 10 different community organisations across Waipā and spoke with mana whenua representatives.
Take a look at where we went and what people told us below.
What is a Spatial Plan?
A spatial plan is a blueprint for a district that provides the foundation for all future planning and investment by Council. It is about future focused thinking that will ultimately shape the look and feel of our places and spaces.
Find out more about why it is so important and what it will mean for our district.