Our place

Story: On Tuesday night I attended a ‘Kerikeri — Our Town’ community meeting at the Turner Centre, facilitated by the founders of Focus

Paihia. The meeting was extremely well attended with standing room only in in the Events Hall where it was held.

The meeting focused on getting the community together to hear everyone’s views on what they want Kerikeri to be in 10-15 years’ time. Grant gave a short overview of how Focus Paihia started, and stressed the need to begin with clear shared vision that would become the solid foundation on which to build.

A series of mini workshops was facilitated by Tania, encouraging participation and engagement through a series of simple questions that were written on post-it notes and stuck up for all to see. Questions such as, describe in one word what you love about Kerikeri? What makes you sad? What makes you mad?

I’m delighted by these initiatives, and Focus Paihia proves how successful they can be, getting things done once a collective vision and plan is created that everyone “owns”.

As one who has long worked with communities, I realise the difficulties and challenges in this process. Communities are very diverse, and bringing the respective groups together takes good leadership, planning and communication. For example, in Kerikeri/ Waipapa we have Vision Kerikeri, business associations, various sporting clubs and associations, professional bodies, our community board and council, we have the original people of the land, the tangata whenua, and their hapu¯ and marae structures.

All need to be engaged. The bigger the community the more difficult, it seems, and often what is needed is a compelling issue that would galvanise a community into action. Invariably, all those involved see the place as “our place”. Therefore, the boundaries of “their” community need to be small enough to inspire passion, commitment and concern for their area.

Everyone has “their” place. It may be as small as “my section”, but generally it is their town or suburb. Rarely does it encompass an entire region. It is their community: the place they are connected to. I know only a few people who, without reward, have committed their personal time and money to help all communities in the Far North.

When you consider the whole of the Far North that the council is charged to serve, it’s no surprise the difficulty council is facing in delivering a collective community vision and getting community engagement. Council is no longer seen as being “Our Council”. That is why I’m delighted to see this initiative: it is localism and is vital for Kerikeri.

Work done by dedicated people has identified about 11 “connected communities” in the Far North. Most in the North can identify one of those areas as “Our Place”. We need similar initiatives occurring within each of these areas in the Far North, and all the work that Council provides should be driven through this place-based focus. Just maybe, Council can again be seen as “Our Council”.

" Council is no longer seen as being “Our Council”. That is why I’m delighted to see this initiative: it is localism and is vital for Kerikeri."