A Napier City Council spokesperson previously said the council will endorse the assembly\u2019s decision and then put it before councillors before a formal decision is made.<\/p>\n
After hearing from a range of pool users, aquatic facility subject matter experts and council staff, the assembly deliberated and agreed on the type of aquatic facility that would best meet the needs, values and priorities of the Napier community.<\/p>\n
The assembly\u2019s recommendations primarily focused on affordability, sustainability, accessibility, and wellbeing.<\/p>\n
Accessibility in all forms was recommended as a priority by the assembly, including considerations for the disabled community, as well as financial accessibility and ensuring a broad range of transport options to the location of the Aquatic Centre, wherever it may be.<\/p>\n
But the assembly did not specify a recommended location, which was part of its brief, after agreeing that the available information in its deliberations wasn\u2019t detailed enough to identify specific sites.<\/p>\n
Instead, it agreed on the type of location needed for the aquatic facility.<\/p>\n
This included being close to schools, sports groups, and high-density residential areas, with safe transport options. <\/p>\n
Napier City Council\u2019s promise to the assembly was to incorporate its recommendations on sites into planning, subject to confirmation of their feasibility.<\/p>\n
It has also promised to keep the cost of the new aquatic facility in the Long-Term Plan budget from 2027 and to use the assembly\u2019s advice to inform the design brief and desired community outcomes.<\/p>\n
Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise said the assembly\u2019s recommendations were an invaluable starting point in the journey towards a new pool for Napier.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is built from this assembly\u2019s recommendations will be imbued with the sense of community and connection that you all embody,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIts foundations will also be infused by your generosity in giving your time, energy, and intelligence to this endeavour.\u201d<\/p>\n
Assembly participants spoke on the experience, calling it a hugely rewarding information overload.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been fascinating, interesting conversations with great people from all walks of life,\u201d said a participant who wished to remain unnamed.<\/p>\n
Another participant said it had been fascinating having interesting conversations with great people from all walks of life, while another said it was an empowering opportunity to be part of council engaging with its community.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an important part of the democratic process, a great way to deal with a complex issue,\u201d another assembly member who wished to remain anonymous said.<\/p>\n
The assembly had a total budget of $100,000 \u2013 which included an $800 participant fee that each member of the assembly received.<\/p>\n
Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke\u2019s Bay Today and has worked in radio and media in the UK, Germany, and New Zealand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Napier City Council spokesperson previously said the council will endorse the assembly\u2019s decision and then put it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[23562,43699,50845,40140,6658,1550,22285,13849,27505,1888,2082,1362,35479,117,111,43,139,69,5198,28493,50844,3271,1857,61,6923,1316],"class_list":["post-62094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-23562","tag-achieve","tag-aquatic","tag-assembly","tag-built","tag-centre","tag-citizens","tag-citys","tag-declines","tag-first","tag-for","tag-made","tag-napiers","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-pool","tag-recommend","tag-recommendation","tag-should","tag-site","tag-to","tag-what","tag-when"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}