Strategies

The Active Recreation and Sport Strategy was developed by us, Sport New Zealand and Sport Northland, working in partnership and talking with the community. 

It looks at the things we do for fitness, fun or social connection - to participate or to get our heart rates up.

From biking, bowling, fishing and paddling through to our many formal sporting codes, our people love getting out and being active.

The aim of this strategy is to increase participation, improve the quality of the experience or the participant, and improve the economic, social and environmental sustainability of the facility network.

We have included recommendations that are comprehensive, apply across the District and across codes and facility types.

He Rautaki Toi ā Rohe ō Whangārei, a strategy for arts, culture and heritage in the Whangārei District 2019-2029, represents the combined vision of Creative Northland, Whangarei District Council and the Creative Community.

It will help to build capacity for both our local arts and culture sector, and touring artistic and cultural groups.

It will help us to celebrate unique and authentic experiences, support Māori arts and culture, and encourage innovation and entrepreneurship, all while building sustainable growth for our District.

The Biodiversity Strategy sets out a framework and process for achieving the biodiversity objectives for our District.

The Blue / Green Network Strategy aims to create an attractive and environmentally sustainable urban environment that also addresses threats from flooding and future climate change.

Blue / green networks are a way of planning, based around waterways (blue), and planting and parks (green).

These are managed together through a combination of infrastructure, ecological restoration and urban design to connect people and nature across the city.

The Coastal Management Strategy provides guidance for how we use and protect our coastal environment over a 20- to 50-year period including the framework for Coastal Structure Plans for 10 high priority coastal settlements.

The Community Halls Strategy sets out to:

• provide a clear definition of what a ‘Community Hall’ is
• clarify our roles and responsibilities to fund, manage and support the provision of community halls in the District
• develop a framework for council funding for community halls in the district
• recommend procedures in the event of disestablishment of a Community Hall.

The COVID-19 Response Strategy outlines our response to the impacts of COVID-19.

Council also launched a 10-Point Whangarei Economic Recovery Response, which includes a range of support initiatives for ratepayers, community and businesses.

Additionally, a $3m Relief Package is available to support community groups, local businesses and ratepayers through the economic shock.

The Whangārei Events Strategy 2019 - 2024 provides a five-year framework for how we can best support Whangārei's growing events sector.  

The National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD) came into force on 20 August 2020. The NPS-UD relates to spatial strategy and land use planning, and the intended purpose is to require councils to plan well for growth and ensure the delivery of a ‘well-functioning urban environment’ for all people, communities and future generations.

The National Policy Statement on Urban Development requires local authorities to provide sufficient plan-enabled, infrastructure-ready, and commercially feasible development capacity so that more homes can be built in response to demand.

In response, we have developed a Housing Capacity and Feasibility Tool and a Business Capacity Tool to assess the capacity for housing and business development in Whangārei. This can be viewed below: