Earlier this year, Paekākāriki Informed Community Inc surveyed the village to gain feedback on village comms and participation. Here’s a summary of the results.
Most of you have used our community website Paekākāriki.nz, 44% of you visit Paekākāriki Tauhokohoko on Facebook daily – and yet more than a quarter of you never use it – 43% of you listen to Paekākāriki FM at least monthly, and our local notice boards remain popular. Word of mouth is king!
Those are just some of the results that have come in from a door-to-door survey of the village over winter, conducted by PICI (Paekākāriki Informed Community Inc) in return for a Paekākāriki.nz magazine.
We are pleased to now share with you the information gathered and are grateful to the 279 households who gave us their thoughts on how they keep informed, what other programmes and services they would like to see in the village, uses for the new Surf Lifesaving Club building, emergency preparedness and community resilience. Conducted largely by neighbourhood coordinators, the survey was also a mechanism for many to get to meet some neighbours and strengthen local bonds.
Those who missed out on a magazine copy can still be in touch before Christmas – email [email protected]
What did we learn?
Local media
Keeping people informed about local news, events, and other information is central to an informed community. People reported they get their information from a range of sources, and some included more than one source e.g. Paekākāriki Tauhokohoko (115 respondents), Facebook (33), Paekākāriki.nz newsletter (48), paekakariki.nz (33), Paekākāriki FM (4), Paekākāriki Trading (6), the school, Kapiti News, noticeboards, flyers, and church. In terms of word-of-mouth: partners, family, neighbours, friends, locals, dairy, pub, café chat, gossip, the Mermaids, and the community garden.
With respect to the community-run website, paekakariki.nz, 121 responded they visited the website at least monthly. Some had been unaware of this resource until completing the survey.
42.8% listen to PaeFM daily, weekly or monthly. 46% of listeners use an FM radio, 40% the smartphone app, and 30% the website. It was clear you listen to a wide variety of shows based on who you know – almost 50 radio shows were named!
It is interesting to note that more than a quarter of respondents never use Paekākāriki Tauhokohoko. These are those Facebook figures:
Local clubs and organisations
There were 75 suggestions of programmes and services people would like to see in the village. There were lots of great ideas for people to pick up. The most popular included access to GP and pharmacy services, a community hub that could be used by older adults, teenagers, and other groups for a variety of activities and groups, take away food options (especially fish & chips), and a gym.
- Services – health services, including pharmacy deliveries, petrol station, mechanic, car share, ride share, consolidated rubbish collection, more playground areas for children around skateboard park, directory of builders and tradespeople with local references
- Transport – transport options for people who cannot walk to train station, trailer hire
- Activities and groups – older adults, mums and babies, teens, and children – coffee group, intergenerational meet-ups, cycling group, men’s book club, drawing group, card/games, singing, dance, a gym, mental health group, chess club, ‘tinkering shed’, school holiday and after school programmes, community sports teams, a swim club later in the day, Tai Chi, art classes, drawing group
- Village – security cameras, recycling for soft plastics, dog park, affordable housing, St Peter’s Hall to be open later, increase library hours, more business and employment opportunities, curb maintenance, school bus to Kāpiti College, community center for cooking classes and Lego library
- Food/dining options – fish & chip shop, bistro, Asian restaurant, healthier food options, evening dining/bistro/music, a dry goods cooperative, food delivery options
- Community activities – community meals, free or affordable workshops on DIY, meet & greet for new residents, community-wide Friday drinks or equivalent
Paekākāriki Housing Trust
There was strong support for the work of the Housing Trust, with many already involved or on the email list. A further 35 respondents asked to have their email address added.
Surf Lifesaving Club
Lots of ideas were generated of how this space could be made available for community use e.g. public and private events and functions, concerts (not subject to curfew), venue for young people events and weekly clubs, community access to bar and café, a center for beach-based community get-togethers e.g. bonfires, equipment hire, public surfboard storage, a gym, yoga, other sporting activities e.g. table tennis, pool, darts, dancing, BBQs, and use of its deck.
Emergency Preparedness and Community Resilience
Many responded that they were already part of an existing group, set up at the start of the Covid pandemic, or an informal one. Others expressed an interest in joining one, and were new to the village, had moved house, or their group had lapsed. Informally we discovered that while many areas of the village don’t have active cluster groups, there are many we didn’t know about that are active and they communicate within themselves in different ways – from Whatsapp and Facebook groups to door-to-door gatherings.
Many resources and skills were identified that could be used in an emergency e.g. numerous generators, First Aid training, biochar kilns for BBQ, filtering water and composting toilets.
What’s happened so far?
It’s great to see that since the survey, new services and activities have popped up in the village. The shops down from the Old Post Office have been renovated and the pottery shop has opened. The village CBD seems to be thriving, the Church is being restored, and St Peter’s Hall continues to have a variety of events.
New activities for older residents have started following the three Over 60s Meet Ups at St Peter’s Hall e.g. a walking group, ride share, Happy Hour at the Bowler (2nd Friday of month 3-4pm) with singing and cycling groups to start in 2025. Digital Seniors is available for one-on-one IT help every 2nd and 4th Tuesday, and there is a seated dance exercise class at St Peter’s Hall on Thursdays at 11am.
What next?
Each of the groups involved in the survey will use the detailed information to inform further discussion and planning for 2025, as well as following up on offers to get involved.
What can you do?
Get involved, volunteer, help keep the fortnightly newsletter going by donating to PICI, know your neighbours, join, revive, or create your neighbourhood cluster group, offer your services, follow-up on that bright idea of what you would like to see in our village, and advertise it through every means available – social media, notice boards, posters, letterbox drops, word-of-mouth etc.
Acknowledgements
Survey participants and volunteers; Mark Amery; Elyse Robêrt; Sally Heppenstall; Nik Bullard; Sarah Laing; Trish Sarr; and Meredith Robertshawe
Funding was received from the Kāpiti Coast District Council via the Paekākāriki Community Board for this work.
Disclaimer
This was never meant to be a census-type survey so we didn’t ask for any demographic information i.e. age, ethnicity, sex, gender, street etc. Therefore, we have no way of knowing how representative our respondents are in relation to the village population.
Thank you for your participation and feedback – it takes a village!
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