Porirua City’s population is likely to grow by 25,000 with an additional 10,000 homes over the next 30 years with significant changes in land use following the completion of Transmission Gully Motorway and other large scale projects planned for the city.

To prepare for this and more, the Council adopted a draft Growth Strategy on Wednesday 12 December and will be seeking public feedback from 20 December 2018 until 8 February 2019.

“The draft Growth Strategy aims to shape and guide our city to ensure we’re ready for this big change,” says Mayor Mike Tana.

“Porirua has Transmission Gully Motorway opening in 2020, regeneration in eastern and western Porirua, development at Kenepuru Landing, planning for the Porirua Adventure Park underway, investment in large greenfield housing and the revitalisation of our city centre which is progressing well. There’s a lot happening in our city and this strategy is vital for Porirua’s future,” he says.

Mayor Tana says the growth identified so far represents more than $2 billion of investment and will create opportunities that haven’t been available to Porirua for decades.

“We can look forward to growth in local employment, affordable housing options focused around public transport hubs as well as a boost in visitor numbers. Planning for that while also managing the impacts of development on our harbour are some of the things included in the strategy - how do we manage all these things.”

General Manager Customer and Community Nic Etheridge, who has lead the strategy work, says the draft is founded on principles based on combined feedback from the community after many discussions over the last three months.

“We started conversations and idea sharing with our key stakeholders in October and across November and early December we’ve had 21 workshops across the city. We’ve had valuable conversations with residents, new migrants business owners, developers, Pasifika, young and older people. A key part of our early thinking was really trying to understand, listen and include a range of community views into the draft strategy, before it was released for formal feedback. If you’ve already been part of these early conversations, please let us know if we’ve got it right, and if you haven’t, we want to hear what you think.”

Council will also be running a series of drop in sessions in late January, details of which will be available on our website. These sessions will provide an opportunity to ask any questions about the draft strategy, and give the community the chance to make a formal submission.

The six growth principles the Council would like further feedback on are:

· A diverse and inclusive city

· A harbour-centred city

· A compact and liveable city

· A connected and active city

· A city of opportunities and prosperity

· A resilient city

Mayor Tana encourages everyone to take time to think about the aspirations put forward in the draft strategy.

“These are truly exciting times for Porirua and it’s so important that we plan for growth in a smart and proactive way, making a well thought-out growth strategy is imperative to the future success of our city.

“All of our planning so far has been put together with help and input from the community. We’ll continue to use your valuable contributions, so please make sure you have a say on the future of our Porirua.”

For more information please go to poriruacity.govt.nz/growthstrategy. The draft strategy and feedback form will be available online from 20 December 2018.

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