Have your say on how our parks and reserves are managed

Submissions closing on 28 August 2025, 05:00 PM

A woman with long red hair frolics among the autumn leaves.

Palmy has more than 170 parks and reserves – from sportsfields and playgrounds to scenic bush tracks and river pathways. These green spaces are a huge part of what makes our city a great place to live – for people, communities, and nature alike.

We’ve created a brand new plan to guide how we manage Palmy’s parks and reserves, and we’d love to hear your thoughts before it’s finalised.

Read the plan

Draft General Policy Reserve Management Plan(PDF, 1MB)

What’s in the plan?

We’re not making major changes to the way we manage our parks and reserves — this plan simply brings together our existing rules into one formal document. However, we are making a few updates, particularly around leases and community gardens.

The plan outlines how we make decisions about things like:

Signs in reserves – who can put them up and what’s allowed
Leases to community groups – including a proposed streamlined process for renewing existing long-term leases
Permits for community gardens – introducing a system to help support and manage these spaces
Donations of seats or other park facilities – how we assess and consider these offers
Biodiversity and heritage protection – managing access to sensitive or protected areas
Working with mana whenua – especially when it comes to managing wahi tapu and other culturally significant sites.

The General Policy Reserve Management Plan sits across all parks and reserves in Palmerston North. It's one of two brand new plans we're developing to help make managing our parks and reserves simpler and more efficient.

A second plan, the Omnibus Reserve Management Plan, will be consulted on at a later date. It will focus on specific types of reserves, such as neighbourhood reserves, sportsgrounds and walkways.

What’s not in this plan?

This plan doesn’t cover specific park upgrades or day-to-day maintenance tasks like mowing. Those kinds of decisions – known as "levels of service" – are made through other processes, such as individual reserve development plans, our Parks Asset Management Plan, or the long-term plan budgeting process.

Rules and guidelines covered under Council bylaws are also not included, for example, the control of dogs in public places.