Outcome 5 in Action - Accessibility - Playable Porirua

Community groups Plimmerton Rotary and Plimmerton Inner Wheel originally approached the Council with an idea to make one or two of the region’s playgrounds more wheelchair-friendly. Coincidentally at about the same time, Otago University researchers asked the Council to carry out an assessment of the region’s parks, so the idea grew into a project to review and improve all 41 Porirua playgrounds.

Porirua City Council Parks Manager Olivia Dovey says we’ve got some fabulous playgrounds in Porirua. “We want everyone to get the enjoyment and health benefits from using our parks and playgrounds, so we’re thrilled to be partnering with these groups and organisations to speed up our goal of enabling everyone to access them.”

Otago University has designed and piloted a survey tool that Rotary and Inner Wheel members are now using to evaluate Porirua’s parks. It’s a real community-led initiative.

“The information will be collated and analysed by the University. We’ll consult with Porirua residents with disabilities and their caregivers on what needs to be done, and then work with Rotary and the Inner Wheel to fund and implement the necessary improvements,” says Ms Dovey.

“It’s an ongoing project. The public will start to see results over the next few years, mainly around access pathways and new, accessible pieces of play equipment, but there are likely to be many other small changes too.”

Resources and Guidance to support the implementation of Outcome 5 - Accessibility

Download handout with Resources section [PDF, 849 KB]