Greener Neighbourhoods
Interested neighbourhood groups of 5 or more households can sign up.
Spaces are limited, and where possible the GN programme will prioritise working with neighbourhood groups from across the Kāpiti district, rather than several neighbourhood groups from the same suburb or town.
Interested groups should register by Monday 14th April
How does the programme work?
- The Greener Neighbourhoods programme runs from April - November
- Groups of 5 or more households from a neighbourhood sign up to participate (households need to get themselves together in groups before signing up). Households within each group should be within easy walking distance of each other.
- The main focus of the programme is a group sustainability project which neighbourhood groups collaborate on throughout the year. Council supports groups to select suitable projects, provides upfront project funding, and provides ongoing support during project development and implementation.
- For example, previous Greener Neighbourhood participants have started community bike libraries, set up local predator control and nature restoration projects, made their homes healthier and cheaper to run by improving household energy efficiencies, created garden and composting projects, and improved waste minimisation practices within their communities.
- In addition, groups are offered access to a range of workshops and learning resources:
- Emergency preparedness and community resilience
- Climate change awareness and action
- Other sustainability related events and learning opportunities
- Groups are also connected with relevant local organisations/ community groups working in their area
- Groups send project updates and photos to Council for an ongoing blog celebrating group progress
- All neighbourhood groups come together for an end of project celebration
"It's a great collaboration between council, neighbourhoods and the wider community to help create genuinely resilient, sustainable and connected neighbourhood environments. The resilience and community spirit that results lasts long after the end of the challenges."
"Our home is now much more focused on reducing waste and consumption in lots of ways we hadn’t thought about before. Our power bills have gone down, we use the car less and nothing that was once alive leaves our property – it all goes back into building the soil and growing food. We’re really thinking about the true impact of what we buy."
" We had regular gardening bees, moving around the houses and often ending with a pot luck meal. We found it a fantastic way to get to know people, and made great friendships."
"The best part of Greener Neighbourhoods for me was really getting to know the people in my street, mostly through a series of garden-focused workshops"