We've been asking you about your experience of living in Palmerston North. What’s good about it? Are there things that make your day-to-day life harder than it needs to be? We also invited your suggestions for things that could break down barriers and make our city even more awesome – for you and everyone who lives here.
Council recently committed to joining the Age-Friendly Aotearoa New Zealand Network. This is a network of 32 local authorities who are all working with their communities to ensure that not only our seniors and kaumatua, but people of all ages, feel safe, connected, valued, and supported.
We are leading the coordination of the programme locally, in partnership with the Age-Friendly Palmerston North community group.
We want to identify barriers to the wellbeing and participation of older people
That’s where you come in. We hosted workshops with community groups and organisations across a number of settings, and invited individuals to provide feedback through a survey, which closed on Friday 22 March.
Next steps
We will take all feedback gathered from the co-design workshops and surveys and form an action plan with recommendations to address barriers to the wellbeing and participation of older people.
The World Health Organization has provided a framework that spans 8 areas:
- Outdoor spaces and buildings
- Transportation
- Housing
- Social participation
- Respect and social inclusion
- Civic participation and employment
- Communication and information
- Community support and health services.
Council is not responsible for all these areas but we will share our plan with government agencies and service providers to help inform their decisions in transport, housing and health.
Our end goal is to identify actions, which agency is responsible for addressing them, and provide suggested timelines.
Any recommendations that fall under Council’s area of responsibility will be considered by elected members for funding alongside other programmes and activities, as part of our long-term planning process.