The Gordonton Community Committee has given us a clear picture of community priorities for the Long Term Plan 2027–37. If you are from the area, but were not in the hall that night, you can still have your say.
On Thursday 10 September, the Gordonton Community Committee made room on a full agenda for koorero about the Long Term Plan — the 10-year plan that sets what Waikato District Council builds, funds and looks after between 2027 and 2037.
Around 18 residents from Gordonton and Puketaha came along to Gordonton Hall. The meeting was chaired by Mike Grayson. Mayor Aksel Bech was there, along with Councillor Crystal Beavis, who led the discussion, and Councillor Mike Keir.
The room split into four groups, talked for the best part of an hour, and reported back. The result was organised, specific and well prepared — several groups arrived having already done their own thinking. It has given us a genuinely useful starting point for Gordonton.
What came through on the night
Eight themes emerged across the four groups. This is what we heard.
- Keeping the village and rural character. The strongest theme, raised by every group. Growth is expected and accepted; losing the feel of the village is not. We also heard a caution not to draw “Gordonton” so narrowly that the surrounding rural community is left out.
- Gordonton as a local destination. Building on Hukanui Park and the playground with concerts, a festival and markets, continuing the Gordonton Arts Trail, and restoring the historic school building for public use.
- A Komakorau Stream walkway and cycleways. A path along the stream linking the village to Woodlands Estate one way and the marae the other, and in time out towards Rototuna and Hamilton.
- Developers putting something back. If the proposed retirement villages and sand quarry go ahead, there was a strong view that developers should contribute to the village — stream planting, walkways, cycleways and local improvements.
- Roads, footpaths and speed. A 50km/h village speed limit, footpath upkeep, chip seal that keeps failing at the same points on the road into Hamilton, and walking access for an older population.
- Local history and heritage. Farming heritage that began here and is not recognised locally, interpretation boards, and better historical context for Woodlands Estate. As one person put it, the heritage of this place begins a thousand years ago, not 150.
- Ngaati Wairere narratives, names and a kura. Continuing bilingual signage and narratives in public spaces, restoring original place names, and the aspiration to establish a kura kaupapa Maaori as a pathway on from the koohanga reo at the marae.
- The hall, the domain and sport. The hall as the community’s main asset, signage for the domain, and making it known that the soccer field is available to clubs and the local college.
Where this sits in the process
This is the listening round, not the formal consultation. There is no draft plan yet, no set of options and no agreed budget — which is exactly why now is the useful time to tell us what matters.
Formal consultation follows in March 2027, when we come back to communities with costed options and the real choices.
The plan is adopted in July 2027. What you tell us now helps shape what those options are.
The committee has not finished
The Gordonton Community Committee has done the hard part — a full committee, an hour of solid discussion, and a clear set of priorities. But this is not the committee’s final word.
We are taking the points raised at the meeting back to the committee, so they can carry them out into the wider community — to neighbours, to local groups, to the people who were not in the hall that night — and keep developing the feedback before it comes to us. What you have read above is where the conversation has got to, not where it ends.
That is where you come in. The more voices behind these priorities, and the more that gets added to them in the meantime, the stronger the picture the committee is working from when it comes back to us.
So: have we got this right? What is missing? And if you could only pick three things for the first three years, what would they be?
You do not need to write an essay. One sentence is plenty. We would particularly like to hear from our Puketaha residents, younger people and from whaanau who could not make it on the night.
Three ways to have your say
- Fill in the online feedback form
- Email us at myvoice@waikatodc.govt.nz
- Pick up a paper form at any Waikato District Council library or service centre
Feedback closes at 5pm, Friday 9 October 2026.
