Measures of Success
Community-led development initiatives are underway in Waltham and Addington.
Progress to date/actions taken
Neighbours Aotearoa Community Building
A partnership with Neighbours Aotearoa has been developed to work alongside members of the Addington community in a participatory project. This project was launched with support from Better Off Funding ($70,000) over three years. This project is progressing well, with interim reports being presented to the Board in December 2023 and March 2024.
There is growing participation in a range of activities in Addington, and significantly more cohesion between the various groups that already operate in the neighbourhood, and they become aware of the opportunities that arise from working together.
Planning for the project is now looking to transitioning into Waltham later in 2024, whilst continuing to support the work in Addington.
- Neighbourhood Building Project – Kia Ora Addington is ending its first year if operation and evaluation will be happening in the coming month. Over the past month the group has been quite active with a number of things happening in the local community such as The Big Addington Clean Up, St Mary’s Square Clean Up, Skill sharing nights, as well as the 1-year celebration of Kia Ora Addington and Community Hui (details in the area report). Discussions are just beginning to commence re: Waltham and how we look to move and connect in this area.
The Board subsequently approved a Better Off Funding grant of $140,000 to Neighbours Aotearoa Charitable Trust towards the Neighbourhood Building Project, years 2 and 3.
Half Basketball Court
The Board granted $75,000 of better off funding towards the Community Half Basketball Court project in Addington. In 2023 Manuka rangatahi, residents and whānau from Addington attended a community board meeting to present their request for a community half court to be built on Cornelius O’Connor Reserve, 66-70 Harman Street, Addington. The rangatahi had identified that there was a great opportunity to build a court that would easily be accessible. Currently, the nearest basketball courts are at a considerable walking distance, requiring the crossing of Morehouse Avenue (4 lanes) or Brougham Street (State Highway 76).
The proposed half court would benefit local families and rangatahi, being easily accessible and providing positive opportunities for skills development, friendship, and fun. The court will be completed early 2025.
Addington School
The Board granted $16,483 of better off funding to Cross Over Trust, for the organisation to purchase and install a chiller at Addington School, in order to distribute fresh food boxes across the local community. This connects to improved neighbourhood participation and increased food resilience, leading to safer communities.
Addington Safety Hui
A community safety Hui was held on 19 September 2024 between local Addington residents and staff from NZ Corrections. The Hui enabled the community to engage directly with Corrections in a respectful and sensitive manner that responded to concerns raised by the community. Corrections led the substantive part of the meeting providing an informative response to questions provided prior to the hui by the community.
The questions posed by community were seeking understanding of changes implemented from the 2023 Independent review of Ara Poutam’'s (Corrections) Community Notification and Engagement Process by Dr Gwenda M Willis. Overall attendees commented that the hui was helpful and responded to concerns they had raised. Corrections staff commented that it was one of the best facilitated, and most constructive community engagements they had been involved with.
On track: strong community building underway
