Recreation at The Lakes

There are more than 30 reserves and open spaces located throughout The Lakes, and through a recent community survey you told us how often you used them and any improvements you would like to see made.

We support having more recreational facilities at The Lakes and are working to identify where these can be provided. Indoor community facilities will be considered as part of a wider plan for this area and were not included in this survey.

Here’s what you have told us

Thank you for taking part in the recent community survey about the Recreation at the Lakes project. The purpose of the survey was to find out how often you use the reserves at the Lakes and any improvements you would like to see made. Your feedback will help us to ensure any new or enhanced facilities reflect the community's needs.

Our community survey was open from March 2022 to April 2022 and received 142 responses, with 96% of those responses from Lakes, Tauriko and Pyes Pa residents.

Key findings:

• All of the 18 neighbourhood reserves listed were used by one or more of the respondents.
• Caslani Reserve was the most popular reserve and was used by 71% of respondents
• 68% of respondents walked to their preferred reserve.
• Most popular use of reserves was to ‘exercise’ or run, with 77% of respondents using the reserves for this purpose, followed by 72% visiting playgrounds.
• Most popular request for additional facilities at reserves was picnic tables (59% of respondents), followed by more trees (53%), shade sails (48%), seats (47%), drinking fountains (44%), BBQ (37%), play equipment (35%) and gardens (22%).
• We also asked for feedback on where a basketball court could be installed and located in the Lakes – with regards to the location and of the three locations suitable for a basketball court, of the 125 respondents to this question, most respondents preferred Orangapani Reserve, because of the central location and the amount of open space available (58% liked it at Orangapani, 29% didn’t mind, 13% disliked this location). The next popular reserve was at Matatu (45% liked it at Matatu, 32% didn’t mind, 24% disliked this location).
• You asked for better network connections at a number of places. The most requested location was across State Highway 29 at the Kennedy Road roundabout. Other requests were better routes to connect schools between Pyes Pa Road and the Lakes, a connection from the Summit through to Kennedy Road and the Crossing, as well as a walkway connection from Penetaka Heights across Pikimai to Kennedy Road.
• Some specific suggestions for seating, drinking fountains and shade along the walkways were provided.

Here's what we will do

From the community survey findings:

• A pump track has been installed near the playground and where the new basketball half court will be placed.
• We’re also programming a number of improvements to your suggested reserves and walkway locations. This includes more shade, drinking fountains, BBQ facilities, picnic tables and seats.
• We’ll investigate the practicality of your suggested network improvements within the reserves network. We’ll also work with other agencies like Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency on other improvements such as connections over state highways.

Other things happening in your community:

• The loop walkway connection from Penetaka Heights around the new stormwater reserve will be opened by the end of June. The long-term goal is to identify a safe connection to Kennedy Road. 
• Work has commenced on the Pyes Pa walkway network and Stage 4, which connects into the Lakes, is estimated to be complete in 2024/2025.
• You can see other long term proposed network connections at Tauriko for tomorrow.
• Council is also identifying an appropriate location for a destination skate park somewhere in the City. You can find out more at Destination skate park project.