Community PlanningWhakamahere ā-hapori

Helping our diverse communities develop their strengths is very important for all of us.

To help achieve this aim, Council assists clusters of neighbourhoods to come up with a community plan. No two communities are the same, which means no two plans are identical – some have priorities around play spaces or encouraging further education, others are focused on job creation or safety. The sky is the limit (well almost).

Council’s role is to help a community consult with its residents and then develop a plan, and then assist with the processes and relationship-building that grows from the plan. It might be that Council advises on how to lodge a Resource Consent, advises which charitable organisation might consider a funding request, or introduces the community to the appropriate central government organisation. Having a community plan also means Council is aware of the wishes of a community so when it is working on its own plans it can ensure goals don’t clash.

Some of the Hastings community plans have been in place for up to 13 years, having been reviewed several times. Concrete results have come out of them: Upgraded playgrounds, new public access to rivers, the opening of community gardens, and  the development of garden tool collections for sharing.

You can read all the community plans from the Community Plans page.

Take a few moments to review the Making Magic video and booklet on this page, have a look at a couple of plans, and then, if you think your community might be ready to develop its own plan or you just want to know more email us.