Where do you think you live?

Formalisation of Suburb Names and Boundaries

This page describes the public consultation for the formalisation of suburb names and boundaries in Porirua City.

There have been recent changes to the addressing requirements for mail.  These changes have highlighted the issue of suburb names and boundaries within Porirua.

Some residents have also raised these issues which has underlined the rather ad hoc way in which suburbs have been named and the blurred, or non-existent, boundaries that exist between suburban areas as the City has expanded geographically.

A search of the New Zealand Geographic Board's Gazetteer shows that only two suburb or locality names in the Porirua City area have received official naming and listing:

  • Pauatahanui - a locality (the entry was to amend previous misspelling); and
  • Whitby - a "new village site between Paremata and Pauatahanui at the eastern inlet of Porirua Harbour".

The Council drafted a list of Suburb and Locality names and boundaries to enable the community to comment.  The proposals were based on historic records and current usage.

These names are listed in the Consultation document, which can be downloaded and printed from the link below.  This document includes the background to the proposal and maps.

Council Resolution

The Strategy, Finance and Regulatory Committee at it meeting held on 14 October recommended the following:

That the Council:

1. Agree the correct usage of te reo Māori, noting that technical limitations and the asset maintenance programming will delay immediate application in all areas.

2. Agree the names and boundaries of Porirua suburbs and localities as shown in Appendix B of the report of the General Manager Corporate Services dated 7 September 2009, with a correction to the boundary for Camborne and Plimmerton, that is all the properties that front onto St Andrews Road to the north of Goat Point be included in the Plimmerton Suburb.

3. Note that the final determination of Council will be forwarded to the New Zealand Geographic Board Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa for formal approval and gazetting.

At its meeting on 28 October 2009, Council approved this recommendation.

For more information contact:

Mike Chapman
Manager Information Management and Democratic Services
phone (04) 237 1504