Te Mata Park 2024 Survey Results

Key takeaways from the Te Mata Park Trust 2024 Survey include:

Top priorities

From a list of five priorities, survey participants felt that recreation and environmental protection and enhancement were most important to them, followed by community (volunteer activities and events), cultural protection, and education.

Usage and access

The majority of those who took the survey were frequent Te Mata Park visitors, with 37% visiting a few times a month, and 30% a few times a week. The top five reasons for visiting the Park were walking, mountain biking, relaxation/wellbeing, nature, and dog walking.

The majority of respondents access the Park by car using the  Tauroa Rd or Main Gates car parks. There has been an increase in people biking, walking and running to the Park since the survey was conducted in 2021, which could be attributed to the opening of the Tauroa Reserve Boardwalk in 2022.

Unique and central to wellbeing

The Park plays a key role in the overall health and wellbeing of respondents with 82% stating that it was significant or highly significant to their wellbeing.  84% of people believed the Park was a unique place.

What people are happy with, and what needs more work

Respondents were  generally happy with the Park, in particular the quality of tracks, toilets, carparks, and general maintenance. The aspects of the Park that people believed needed more attention included dog poo bins, track signage and wayfinding, and road traffic.

Te Mata Park Trust Manager Sarah Austin-Smith said, “We sincerely thank all those who took the time to complete the Te Mata Park 2024 Survey and provide their feedback. Gaining perspectives from regular users is very valuable to the Park team and Trustees, to assist with both operational decision making and long-term strategies.”

Te Mata Park Trust would also like to thank local business AskYourTeam for providing the use of their professional and invaluable survey platform.

Te Mata Park aims to survey users every two years. The 2023 survey was postponed due to Cyclone Gabrielle; the next survey will be conducted in the summer of 2026.