Recognition of the role diversity plays in creating a vibrant community is at the heart of the Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board Plan 2023, which has been formally adopted.
Community feedback has been used to shape the plan.
The city’s 21 local boards are required by law to produce a plan every three years, and the plan adopted is the first for the board elected last year.
It sets out the board’s priorities for the remainder of its term:
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Māori outcomes
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Climate action
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Our people
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Our environment
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Our community
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Our places
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Our economy.
Acting board chair Harry Fatu Toleafoa says the community remains at the heart of all the board’s work.
“Our area is one of the city’s most diverse, with large Māori, Pasifika, Indian, Filipino and Asian communities, and that is one of our greatest strengths.
“It gives us a uniqueness of views, and those views have shaped a plan that recognizes we may think differently about some things, but there is much more that unites us.
“During the consultations that took place every group agreed on one thing in particular, that people had to be at the heart of everything we do as a board, because without people coming together there can be no community.
“So we will continue to recognise that diversity is our strength, because we believe it, but far more importantly, our people do too.”
He says the board will work to strengthen the community to ensure equity for all by supporting, empowering and celebrating the area’s diversity, including through programmes that encourage community-led projects and events.
“We will also continue to support Māori outcomes through projects including co-governance partnerships, working with mana whenua to re-establish traditional Māori names to local parks and places, and programmes that promote te reo Māori, te ao Māori and our unique Māori identity.”
Toleafoa says the board also received strong feedback that climate action - investing in preserving, protecting, and promoting the natural environment, and mitigating the effects of climate change - was crucial.
“That is a cornerstone of te ao Māori, and something that is reflected through Pasifika communities, but it is also an area our young people are concerned about.”
The plan is here.
