Hamilton City Council are asking the community what loving and protecting the environment means to them as part of their Shape Your Future City campaign.

The Shape Your Future City campaign is a chance for the community to tell us what’s important to them, and their ideas for how we can work together to make Hamilton an even better place to be.

In relation to the environmental wellbeing, the Council has drafted the following outcomes:

• restoring and protecting the health and wellbeing of the Waikato River
• embracing sustainable use of natural resources
• protecting and enhancing our natural taonga, green spaces and biodiversity
• actively responding to the challenges of climate change
• minimising the amount of waste that goes to landfill.

The Council are asking the community to choose from a set of words to complete a sentence for each wellbeing. The words that are chosen most often will provide an indication of which outcomes are most important to Hamiltonians.

The Chair of the Council’s newly established Environment Committee, Margaret Forsyth, is fully aware of the passion amongst the community for the city’s natural resources.

“We know the increasing importance Hamiltonians are placing on the health of our city’s environment,” she says.

“Hamilton is home to significant environmental treasures such as a 16-kilometre stretch of the Waikato River, extensive gully and stream systems, and Waiwhakareke Natural Heritage Park.

“This campaign is an opportunity for people to tell us what aspects of environmental wellbeing matter most to them, which will help guide decision making for the 2021-2031 Long-Term Plan.”

For example, if the results show that most respondents want Hamilton to be more water-conserving, this provides a direction to Council to prioritise projects and measures to help achieve this.

Based on the community’s responses, the outcomes will be refined, if necessary, then presented to Council for adoption in June.

Feedback can be shared before 9 April by visiting futurehamilton.co.nz or by picking up a hardcopy form from our Council office or any of our community facilities.

We’ll also be popping up at events across the city, keep an eye on facebook.com/HamiltonCityCouncil to find out where we are each week.

Shape your future city at futurehamilton.co.nz

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