New Zealand Parks Categories & Levels of Service

The parks categories and levels of service framework have been developed by the New Zealand Recreation Association (NZRA), in consultation with the New Zealand parks sector, to provide a New Zealand relevant industry guideline for consistent application across the parks and open spaces sector.

The categories provide a baseline framework for individual organisations to utilise as appropriate to their circumstances.

In broad terms, the categories selected are based on the following factors:

1. Character (what the park looks like)
2. Purpose (what the park is used for)
3. Level of service (standard of development and maintenance)

The categories are designed so that organisations will be able to allocate all their parks and open spaces, in all but exceptional circumstances, to one or more of the categories.

This is the first New Zealand, industry developed and agreed, set of parks categories. It is recommended that these categories be used by territorial local authorities for the planning and management of parks.

In addition to the standard typology for parks categories, is the provision of a standard levels of service framework associated with each of the categories.

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  Hard Copies of the document can be ordered online here.

Contributing Organisations 

NZRA wishes to thank the following organisations whose financial contributions assited with the development of the Parks Categories resource

Auckland City Council                       Gisborne District Council    

Christchurch City Council                 City Care

Downers                                           Dunedin City Council                                    

Gore District Council                         Hamilton City Council

Hastings District Council                   Masterton District Council

Nelson City Council                           New Plymouth City Council

Onsite Development                          Palmerston North City Council

Queenstown District Council             Rotorua City Council   

Selwyn District Council                     Timaru District Council       

Upper Hutt City Council                      Waikato District Council     

Wellington City Council                       Whakatane District Council

Waimakiriri DC                                     Far North District Council