Eco City

Being an eco city means working together for better social, economic and environmental outcomes for our children, our grandchildren and ourselves.

It means working with people and communities to:

• Build a strong local economy
• Create attractive town centres with good road and passenger transport access
• Protect and expand the “green network” which links our streams and parks from the Ranges to the sea
• Use resources better, and produce less waste
• Improve the wellbeing of residents

Since adopting the eco city direction, Waitakere has achieved some significant changes:

• Between 1997 and 2000, there has been an average 3% increase in local jobs each year
• 95% of new homes built in Waitakere City are in the urban area, reducing the pressure to subdivide countryside and the Waitakere Ranges
• The Council plants over 80,000 native trees and plants each year
• There has been a 30% drop since 1998/99 in the amount of rubbish each resident generates - including litter, illegal dumping and inorganic rubbish
• From having some of the worst road safety statistics in NZ, Waitakere now has some of the best, including a halving of child pedestrian and cycle injuries since 1998
• The city has built strong partnerships with the city’s two iwi, Te Kawerau a Maki and Ngati Whatua, and has set up a Taumata Runanga with representatives of key Maori groups in the city as a standing committee of the Council.