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Tairua Skatepark now open

Project typeSports facility
Contractor nameVeros Property Services, ACID NZ

Big turn-out for Tairua Skatepark opening

Hundreds of people attended the opening of Tairua Skatepark on Monday April 15, including many who have championed a skatepark for their community since the 1990s.

Among the attendees were current and former Councillors and Community Board members and many local skate enthusiasts eager to drop into the new skatepark at Cory Park Domain.

Jacqui Gage-Brown from Tairua Sports and Recreation Trust

Warwick Brooks, Chair of the Tairua-Pāuanui Community Board, captured the sentiment in his speech: “Behind me stands a monument and a testament to people power, hard work, and perseverance from the community.”

Jacqui Gage-Brown from Tairua Sports and Recreation Trust expressed her pride in the community's dedication, saying, “This has taken a long time, 30 years, and we have finally arrived.”

A young person displayed a sign saying 'Youth are leaders of our future', noting their instrumental role in designing and supporting the skatepark.

Our Mayor Len Salt declared the park open before dozens of excited local skaters got to try it out for the first time.

Credit is due to many individuals in the Tairua community, particularly a determined group led by Jacqui, who collaborated to secure prizes from local businesses for a giveaway during the opening. ACID, the project's contractor, generously donated several skateboard decks.

Special acknowledgment goes to those who contributed $1000 or more to the project, earning them a spot on a plaque inside the skatepark. One remarkable couple donated $50,000

During the event, Hikuai School organised a fundraising sausage sizzle, ensuring all attendees were well-fed and energised for skating.

The park is now open for people to enjoy and make the most of.

Click here to view a photo gallery of the opening
Click here to visit the project page

Legal challenge dismissed

In mid-August 2023 the High Court in Hamilton dismissed the legal challenge from Preserve Cory Park Domain Society to block our Council’s project to build a skatepark in Tairua.

Justice Powell dismissed the claims that the process and public consultation our Council and contractors followed to make decisions about a skatepark for Tairua were flawed.

“We are grateful for the Court’s expedient hearing of the judicial review,” says our Mayor Len Salt.

“This process has validated the process and decision making to site a skatepark on Cory Park Domain.”

Read the judgement here(PDF, 644KB)

The final design plans for Tairua Skatepark were approved by Council at its 26 April 2023 meeting, which also authorised the project team to proceed with procurement and construction.

The plans can be seen in the meeting agenda on our website.

The project team has continued to engage with users of Cory Park Domain – the site of the skatepark – to fine tune any minor design changes needed for health and safety purposes.

Tairua Skatepark Concept Design April 2023.png

Our Council has appointed Veros to project manage the second stage of the Tairua Skatepark Project through detailed design and construction phases to completion. Acid NZ designed the skatepark.

Stage One involved extensive community consultation on the appetite for, and preferred site of, the Tairua Skatepark. This comprehensive consultation process included site walk-throughs, in-person public meetings, online public meetings and digital surveys.

To guide the design of the skatepark, a Skatepark Design Reference Group was set up. It included representatives from a range of groups such as skaters, residents who live beside Cory Park, The Protect Cory Park Domain Society (PCPDS), Tairua Sports and Rugby Club (TRSC), Tairua Recreation Sports Trust (TRST), and Police.

Our Council received 1,044 submissions to our formal consultation asking if the Tairua community agreed with Cory Park Domain as the proposed location for a skatepark in Tairua.

Sixty-three people indicated they would like to speak to their submission to our Council at hearings held on 28-29 April 2022.

In summary:

• 92.49 per cent of submitters agreed with Cory Park Domain as the location for the skatepark.
• 7.03 per cent of submitters disagreed with Cory Park Domain as the location for the skatepark.
• 0.48 per cent were neutral or provided no response.

We’d like to thank the Tairua community for their patience and engagement with the consultation process.

An initial survey in October-November 2021 helped shape the site selection criteria, sites to be shortlisted and skatepark design elements.

A second survey in November-December 2021 was run to understand people’s official preference on the site from the shortlist of Cory Park Domain, Pepe Reserve and Tairua School.

On 8 February 2022 our Council adopted Cory Park Domain as the preferred site for the skatepark.

The final stage was the submission process, held over 14 February to 8 April 2022, on Council’s preferred location of Cory Park Domain. This submission process was held following the special consultative procedure as set out in the Local Government Act. This is the same process we use for consultations on our Long Term Plans and Annual Plans.

Tairua Skate Park location consultation background information

A site at Cory Park Domain was identified but legal proceedings in 2021 forced a halt to the project. In order to start with a clean slate, the Tairua-Pauanui Community Board agreed at its June 2021 meeting to revoke all previous decisions made in regards to the skate park.

An out-of-cycle budget of $60,000 funded from the Tairua-Pauanui Community Board’s retained earnings is being used for Veros Property Services, an independent company with expertise in planning, consultation and project management, to lead the work.

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