The 22ha park is Morrinsville’s largest public green space, currently catering to cricket, football, tennis, swimming and polo. It also has Swim Zone Morrinsville, an off-leash dog exercise area, children’s playgrounds, a mini skate bowl, motorhome parking and dumping facilities, the old tennis club building, the old campground, a residential unit, car park, public toilets and the Morrinsville River Walk. It also includes the land between the railway and the historic park boundary which we’ve only recently acquired, creating further development opportunities. Historically it's been used by a variety of indviduals and groups, however at the moment large areas of the park are under-utilised and have been for a number of years. 

Over the last few years we’ve been approached by a number of groups or individuals wanting to do various activities at Morrinsville Recreation Grounds.  One of the challenges has been a lack of an overall, long term community vision for the space.

When we recently consulted on our Parks and Open Spaces Strategy it was clear that Morrinsville residents were passionate about ‘The Rec’.

When we consulted on our 2021-31 Long Term Plan, there was strong support for developing a long term vision to guide future development and use of the grounds.

You’ve let us know some of your ideas already and from September last year we started talking to the community, to find out what’s working well, what’s not working and what could be better at the Morrinsville Recreation Grounds. We've now gathered the vision and ideas the community has for the grounds and have started drawing up some concept plans of what the space could look like in the future.

We started by engaging with Ngāti Hauā to get a good idea of what is important to local iwi and hapū in this project. We also carried out a site analysis to document existing site conditions, what activities are currently carried out there and gathered knowledge and insights from key staff members. A working party was set up to head the project.

Ngāti Hauā have told us that the enhancement, protection and development of the local environment (i.e. the river and native planting) and deepening understanding of Morrinsville’s history and unique story is especially important to them. We’ll continue to work with Ngāti Hauā throughout this process to identify opportunities and see how we can incorporate Ngāti Hauā values into the long term vision.

Cr. James Thomas (Chair) – Morrinsville Ward Councillor
Cr. Neil Goodger - Deputy Mayor and Morrinsville Ward Councillor
Cr. Donna Arnold – Morrinsville Ward Councillor
Cr. Bruce Dewhurst – Morrinsville Ward Councillor
Pare Holder - Ngāti Hauā representative
Lisa Gardiner - Ngāti Hauā representatives
David Sing – Community member
Dean Nicholson – Community member
Bill Cooksley, Sport Waikato - Observer

Late last year, we carried out a plan (moved to mostly online due to COVID-19 level restrictions) to involve everyone who would like to have a say and contribute to the long term vision. From individuals, groups who regularly use The Rec, event organisers and casual users, to those who would like to use it, but can’t for some reason – we carried out an online survey and workshops with key users to hear from you and received a great response. If you’re interested in being involved, sign up for updates on this project at mpdc.govt.nz/sign-up to be kept up to date on opportunities to share your ideas.

Our first step was to hold an interactive workshop for those who currently regularly use the grounds. This was a great opportunity for these users to share their valuable knowledge, insights and vision for the grounds. 

Below is a list of groups that we’re aware of who are currently using The Rec:

Piako Catchment Forum
Morrinsville Public Relations Association and Morrinsville Chamber of Commerce – Annual Fireworks Extravaganza
Swim Zone Morrinsville
Morrinsville Polo Club
Morrinsville Football Club
The Morrinsville-Piako Cricket Club
Morrinsville Junior Cricket Club
Morrinsville Tennis Club
Morrisnville Fire Service
Motorhome Association – Motorhome Friendly Town
Riverwalk clean up volunteers
Lions
Rotary
Morrinsville A&P Show
Piako Triathlon
Motorama
Ultimate Frisbee

If we’ve missed any regular users, please email info@mpdc.govt.nz  and let us know.

We know Swim Zone Morrinsville is aging and the Morrinsville community is keen to see some changes. So in our Long Term Plan, we have included funding for a new/upgraded pool complex from 2028/29. The details of this project (e.g. the size of the pool, what facilities it will include, whether it’s indoor or outdoor etc) will be a future project in itself, and will also need lots of input from the community. For now, we need to ensure that any long term vision for the rec grounds includes identifying the best location for the pools within the grounds. 

We know the Morrinsville Events Centre is aging and changing trends in recreation and leisure time means demands have changed. We’ll need to review the future of our current events centre before it comes to the end of its expected useful life which is likely to be in the next 20 years. We will need lots of input from the community at that stage, about where to next for a Morrinsville Events Centre. Some people have let us know in the past, they think the events/rec centre should be within the rec grounds while others preferred it to be closer to the town centre. If the community let us know they prefer it to be at the rec grounds, we’d need to ensure we identify its best location within the grounds, in the long term vision, so it is an option in the future.

Thanks to everyone who took part in our online survey and regular users workshops. We've gathered all of your valuable feedback and gone away to draw up a draft concept plan. We'll be checking in with the community again shortly to see whether it accurately reflects what you’ve shared with us, and use your feedback to refine the concept plan.

This is very much a long term vision for the grounds to help guide future development and use of the space.

Council has committed $250,000 to the Morrinsville Recreation Grounds in 2022 (through the Long Term Plan), which will be used to deliver some of the improvements the community identifies in the long term vision. Council will then be able to consider and refer to the long term vision when setting future budgets (for example, they may provide further funding through future Long Term Plans or Annual Plans).

Having a shared vision also means that sport, recreation and community groups can also work towards that vision or drive some of the projects.

Over the last few years, we’ve been approached with various proposals to develop assets or activities within the park (e.g. motorhome parking, dog exercise areas, rugby league, walkways, riparian restoration, pump tracks, gymnasium facility, etc) with no overall vision/plan for the space to guide decision-making.  

By developing a long term vision, it means the community doesn’t have to rely on us and our limited resources before seeing some action. Sometimes individual groups have the resources, manpower and access to funding that Council doesn’t, and can get projects they are passionate about completed at a far greater pace.

If new groups approach us about using the grounds, we’ll have a deeper understanding about how the grounds are currently used, how we envision the grounds to look and be laid out and how we can cater to new events and uses.

It also gives us all a framework and understanding of the needs of all the different users, how changes in use may limit/influence the future potential of the park and allows us to ensure adhoc infrastructure isn’t installed (such as buildings) that may negatively impact on another group.

All information, updates and design proposals will be published online throughout the project.

If you are interested in receiving updates on this project via e-newsletter, sign up at mpdc.govt.nz/sign-up to be kept up to date on opportunities to share your ideas or feedback.