Te Matau-a-Māui – Hawke’s Bay

At a glance 

Arataki Te Matau-a-Māui – Hawke’s Bay regional direction [PDF, 3.6 MB]

Arataki Te Matau-a-Māui - Hawke’s Bay statistics table - infographic alternative [PDF, 117 KB]

The September 2023 v1.1 release of Arataki includes updates to reflect the severe weather events of 2023 and make minor corrections. Most sections of the Arataki Te Matau-a-Māui – Hawke’s Bay regional direction have climate-related updates.

Te Matau-a-Māui Hawke’s Bay is home to about 166,000 people, or 3.5% of the population of Aotearoa New Zealand. It’s expected to grow to 202,000 by 2048. Ahuriri Napier and Heretaunga Hastings are the main employment centres and home to nearly 80% of the region’s population. This is where most of the region’s future growth will occur.

By 2048, nearly 30% of the population in the districts of Ahuriri and Central Hawke’s Bay is expected to be older than 65, compared to the national average of 23%.

Outside the two main centres, jobs in primary production such as horticulture, wine, sheep and beef farming and processing are significant. The importance of logging is forecast to grow.

There is an uneven distribution of economic opportunities and growth in the region, with the north experiencing declining populations, high unemployment, and low incomes.

There are several natural hazard risks related to landslips, flooding, coastal inundation/erosion, and earthquake/liquefaction.

There’s an opportunity to build on average rates of walking and cycling in Ahuriri and Heretaunga, by ongoing investment in safe facilities that can accommodate mobility scooters. Active modes are likely the best ways to reduce vehicle kilometres travelled (VKT). Increasing the share of freight moved by rail and coastal shipping will also have an important role to play in reducing emissions.

Other critical transport challenges facing the region over the next three decades include safety, resilience, and supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Focusing our efforts 

For efficient and effective progress, transport challenges in Te Matau-a-Māui must be tackled in a cohesive way. The directions below identify the most important issues to be resolved over the next 10 years to make progress towards transport outcomes.

• Rebuild the network destroyed by Cyclone Gabrielle and improve resilience.
• Reduce vehicle kilometres travelled (VKT), focusing on Ahuriri Napier and Heretaunga Hastings, in a way that’s fair, equitable, and improves quality of life.
• Enable and support the region’s transition to a low-carbon economy.
• Maintain and improve the resilience and efficiency of interregional connections to the north and south.
• Improve access to social and economic opportunities, especially by public transport, walking, and cycling.
• Significantly reduce the harm caused by the region’s transport system, especially through improved road safety and reduced pollutants dangerous to health.
• Actively support, enable, and encourage growth and development in areas that already have good travel choices and shorter trip lengths.
• Rapidly accelerate the delivery of walking and cycling networks, predominantly through reshaping existing streets, to make these options safe and attractive.
• Explore new and emerging technologies, such as on-demand services, to improve access to social and economic opportunities.
• Better understand the impact of future economic transformation on travel patterns and freight volumes.
• Explore opportunities to move to a multimodal freight system with greater use of rail and coastal shipping.
• Advocate for better integration of land use and transport planning, including spatial planning for sustainable management of urban growth.
• Confirm how resilience risks will be addressed over time, and work with communities to plan for when to defend, accommodate, or retreat.
• Continue to implement road safety plans and programmes including those focused for iwi Māori.
• Improve or maintain, as appropriate, physical access to marae, papakāinga, wāhi tapu, and wāhi taonga.

These will be updated over time to focus effort on the most critical matters.

Arataki Te Matau-a-Māui – Hawke’s Bay regional direction [PDF, 3.6 MB]