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General Information
View looking over Dolbel Reserve with wooden table in the distance.Napier has many parks, reserves and gardens, which serve a variety of purposes. These areas range from small neighbourhood parks through to green belt reserves and well-manicured public gardens.
Softening and beautifying the built landscape, they offer a tranquil environment for relaxation and provide a pleasant location for enjoying general recreational activities. Most of the city's parks and reserves are assigned for passive recreational uses such walking and biking.
All Napier's parks, reserves and public gardens are managed by the Reserves Asset Manager.
Where possible, reserves are established in order to provide a series of links, connecting each through a network of track systems. A good example of that is in Taradale, where Kent Terrace Reserve connects to Tironui Reserve, Lance Leikis Reserve, Sugarloaf Reserve and Halliwell Reserve.
Some reserves are very rural in aspect - the Tironui and Sugarloaf Reserves, for example, are essentially grazed areas. Others, such as Anderson Park, are landscaped and well-manicured. There are also conservation areas such as the estuarine Westshore Wildlife Reserve and the Watchman Road Reserve.
Extensive tree-planting is undertaken on many reserves to improve the aesthetic appeal, protect hillside slopes or provide shade and shelter to park users. a feature of Taradale's Dolbel Reserve, and also Gleeson Park in Faraday Street, where a joint planting project continues for the Council and children attending Napier Central School.
Being a largely low-lying city, Napier has a network of drainage reserves and these often double as passive recreational areas. Increasingly, they are being worked into the Rotary Pathway system, adding to the routes available to walkers and cyclists. In Tamatea, for example, an all-weather concrete path has been formed in the Westminster Avenue Drainage Reserve.
Children are well catered for, with playgrounds in a number of parks and reserves. Where possible, the Council also provides seating, tables, toilets and rubbish bins.
It's essential to book a reserve for organised events such as weddings. This can be done by contacting the Works Asset Booking Clerk.
