Waikato District Council checks in about Blueprint progress

Waikato District Council is starting a further round of community consultation on the Waikato District Blueprint.

A year ago the council adopted the Waikato District Blueprint and from this week will seek to confirm with the community that the prioritisation of the Blueprint initiatives is still correct. Council also wants to confirm who will be leading the communityled aspects of the Blueprint.

At the various community hui, which started on Tuesday, the council will provide an update on progress to date and will also seek suggestions on who might lead some of the initiatives, which have been prioritised by the communities themselves.

Through the adoption of the Blueprint, the council demonstrated that it wants to take a new and different approach to planning. The Blueprint is a “spatial picture” of how the district could progress over the next 30 years. It addresses the community’s social, economic and environmental needs, and responds to its regional context. The Blueprint will be used to develop the 2021-31 Long Term Plan.

General manager community growth Clive Morgan says: “We’ve had great community support in getting the Blueprint to this stage and I want to thank the community for their input so far. The Blueprint will always be a work in progress and we will continue to check in with you to make sure we are all travelling down the right path together.”

In developing the Blueprint, workshops were held in 10 of the district’s townships from July to November 2018. Council then heard from hundreds of people on issues and ideas for their towns.

Council then issued a draft Waikato Blueprint for consultation in March 2019. The community was asked to indicate their top five district-wide priorities and their top three priorities for each of the Local Area Blueprints. In total, 439 submissions were received.

Starting this week, community meetings are being held for each town in the Blueprint. A district-wide session was held via Zoom yesterday and was recorded.

There are hui still to be held for Raglan; Taupiri, Ngaruawahia and Horotiu; Meremere; Matangi; Ohinewai and Huntly; Te Kowhai and Whatawhata; Te Kauwhata and Rangiriri; Tuakau; Pokeno and Mercer.

More information: waikatodistrict. govt.nz/blueprints