Naming of Roads Policy Review

Overview

Hamilton City Council is seeking feedback on proposed changes to the Naming of Roads, Open Spaces and Council Facilities Policy.

We're proposing changes to the policy to ensure it reflects Council's vision for the cultural wellbeing of Hamilton and would give mana whenua - such as local iwi and hapuu - more time to consider and influence the names of new roads.

Before making any decisions on the policy changes, we’d like to hear from our community and get your feedback. This policy change is open for feedback now until 30 November 2021.

Why your views matter

Council is required to review the policy every three years. This is a chance to take a good look at how the policy is working, make sure that it matches other key Council strategies and goals and then go out to our community with the proposed changes so we can take their feedback into account before making a decision.

We want to hear from all Hamiltonians, to understand how these proposed changes will affect them and their neighbourhood.

What are we proposing?

The key elements of proposed changes to the policy are:

CHANGE A : Policy principles

We’re proposing that the policy principles are that:

• Council has a role in ensuring that the city‘s history, local identity and local culture is recognised and maintained. 
• Council will provide a consistent approach to determining appropriate names for roads, open spaces and council facilities, and ensure decisions are in accordance with He Pou Manawa Ora: Pillars of Wellbeing strategy adopted by Council.

Council recently adopted He Pou Manawa Ora : Pillars of Wellbeing strategy. The proposed changes demonstrate our commitment to the cultural wellbeing of our community and supports the goal that te reo Maaori is seen, heard, and celebrated throughout the city.

CHANGE B: Timing of consultation with mana whenua and the type of information requested

In the proposed policy:

• developers will be expected to consult with mana whenua much earlier – before they have lodged a consent application.
• mana whenua must respond within 12 calendar weeks.
• mana whenua will provide a register (‘pool’) of names which can be used for the development itself, roads, open spaces or facilities within the development.

Changing the timing of consultation with mana whenua to earlier in the consenting process allows developers to consider the history and culturally significant areas of the land they are developing, while the development is still in the planning stages. 12 weeks is also a longer timeframe for mana whenua to respond to these developer requests, providing adequate time to consult with their iwi and hapuu and encouraging the forming of effective relationships with developers.

CHANGE C: Number of names a developer proposes on an application form

In the proposed policy:

• developers can process up to three names on a new road application form.
• at least one of the proposed new road names must be from the register of names mana whenua have provided to the developer during consultation.

Through providing a register or pool of names for new roads, mana whenua increases the influence Maaori history and stories can have on road names and other named elements in a development. Currently, developers must consult with mana whenua about new road names but there isn’t a requirement to include any names from mana whenua when they apply for a new road with Council.

We're not proposing any changes to:

• the process to rename a road
• how Council's open spaces and facilities are named
• how the final decision is made when naming a new road

You can find more information, including the Statement of Proposal, at the bottom of this page in the Related section.

What happens next?

Council staff will collect and review all feedback at the close of the submission period. A summary of the feedback will be presented to Council’s Hearings and Engagement Committee in early 2022. At this meeting, anyone that would like to speak to their written submission will be able to do so. Council will then consider all the views and make a decision on the proposed Policy changes outlined above. Should any of these be approved to go ahead, we expect the updated Policy to be confirmed and implemented by mid-2022.