Grey District, New Zealand

G rey District sits at the heart of the West Coast, stretching from the south banks of the Punakaiki River in the north, SE to Mt Anderson, N to The Pinnacle SE to Craigeburn in a SE direction to Mt Barron, SW to Jacksons and following the Taramakau River to the Tasman Sea. Steeped in rich history and character, the municipality covers Greymouth, Runanga, Blackball, Moana, Cobden and several settlements along the beautiful Grey River. Along with being the largest town on the West Coast, Greymouth also serves as the commercial centre of the region and is home to 27 percent of the District’s population of 30,000. Grey District Community Development Manager, Dearne Thompson, reports “We’re not really expecting any population growth, which makes it quite hard in terms of paying for things we want to do. And also we have a lot of Department of Conservation (DOC) land, which is unrateable. The West Coast has a higher proportion of DOC land compared to other regions.” Yet, while it may not have significant growth in the forecast, what Grey District does have is a rather impressive vision for the Greymouth Central Business District. Back in 2015, the District created a CBD Renewal Plan in two stages. The first step was asking the community what they wanted. Then AT A GLANCE GREY DISTRICT, NEW ZEALAND WHAT: Large coastal municipality; population approx. 13,000 WHERE: West Coast, New Zealand WEBSITE: www.greydc.govt.nz Grey District, Renewal in progress NEW ZEALAND