Napier-Hastings Urban Area

The Napier-Hastings Urban Area lies mostly on the Heretaunga Plains of the Hawke's Bay Region in New Zealand and is a conurbation surrounding the twin cities of Napier and Hastings. It is the sixth-most-populous urban area in the country, with 134,500 residents,[1] just slightly fewer than Tauranga (141,600) and more than Dunedin (122,000).

Napier-Hastings Urban Area
Urban area
Napier-Hastings Urban Area Hastings/Napier
Coordinates: 39°35′0″S 176°51′0″E
Country	New Zealand
Region	Hawke's Bay
Area
• Territorial	5,335 km^2 (2,060 sq mi)
Elevation	9 m (30 ft)
Population  (June 2018)[1]
• Territorial	139,600
• Density	26/km^2 (68/sq mi)
• Urban	134,500
Postcodes	4120, 4122

While the two cities remain separated by 9 km (5.6 mi) of rural land from city edge to edge (20 km from one city centre to the next), there is sufficient economic and social integration between the cities that Statistics New Zealand considers them as a single unit. However, like the urban areas of Auckland, Hamilton and Wellington, the Napier-Hastings urban area is subdivided into urban zones. The urban area contains around three-quarters of the population of the entire Hawke's Bay.

If Hastings and Napier were to amalgamate they would become the sixth-most-populous city in New Zealand following Tauranga.

The Statistical Standard of Geographic Areas 2018, developed by Statistics New Zealand, will see the Napier-Hastings abolished as a statistical urban area. It will be replaced with four separate urban areas: Napier, Hastings, Havelock North, and Clive.[2]

Satellite photo of southern Hawke Bay, including all of the Napier-Hastings Urban Area

Geography

Suburbs

Napier CBD

• Ahuriri
• Awatoto
• Bay View
• Bluff Hill
• Esk Hills
• Greenmeadows
• Hospital Hill
• Knightsbridge
• Jervoistown
• Maraenui
• Marewa
• Meeanee
• Mission Hills
• Napier South
• Onekawa
• Oakland Park
• Parklands
• Pandora
• Pirimai
• Porati
• Taradale
  • Ascot Park
  • Knightsbridge
  • Taradale North
  • Taradale South
• Te Awa
• Tamatea
• Waiohiki
• Westshore

Hastings CBD

• Akina
• Camberley
• Flaxmere
  • Flaxmere East
  • Kingsley-Chatham
  • Lochain
• Frimley
• Havelock North
  • Anderson Park
  • Havelock North Central
  • Iona
  • Te Mata
  • Te Mata Hills
• Irongate
• Karamu
• Longlands
• Mahora
• Mayfair
• Parkvale
• Pukahu
• Raureka
• St Leonards
• Stortford Lodge
• Tomoana
• Twyford
• Waipatu
• Woolwich

Seismicity

Hawke's Bay is one of the most seismically active regions in New Zealand, and as so Napier-Hastings has experienced many large and often damaging earthquakes in the past. More than 50 damaging earthquakes have rocked the area since the European colonisation in the 1800s. Some of the more notable are listed below.

Date	Location	Magnitude (ML)	Depth	Fatalities	More information
8 July 1843	25 km west of Tikokino	7.6	12 km	2
22 February 1863	Waipukurau	7.5	25 km		1863 Hawke's Bay earthquake
5 October 1911	Hastings	5.6	33 km
28 June 1921	Kaweka Forest Park	7.0	80 km
3 February 1931	20 km north of Napier	7.8	20 km	256 killed, thousands injured	1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake
8 February 1931	Wairoa	6.4	60 km
13 February 1931	50 km east of Napier	7.3	30 km
16 September 1932	Wairoa	6.9	12 km
15 March 1934	Mohaka	6.1	25 km
26 February 1940	Hastings	6.0	25 km
31 January 1958	Waipawa	6.1	12 km
5 October 1980	Hastings	5.7	30 km
11 April 1993	Hastings	6.1	38 km
15 October 2001	Hastings	5.8	40 km
25 August 2008	Hastings	5.9	31 km		2008 Hastings earthquake

Education

Napier-Hastings offers a variety of colleges and tertiary studies for students. The Eastern Institute of Technology, commonly abbreviated to EIT or EIT HB is located along the banks of the Tutaekuri River and offers many different courses for students both in and out of the region. EIT serves as the main regional tertiary education centre for both Hawke's Bay and Gisborne regions. There are 3 campuses: Hawke's Bay, Auckland and Gisborne.

Secondary Schools are as follows:

Name	Gender	Area	Decile	Roll	Website	MOE
Flaxmere College	Coed	Flaxmere	1	331		134
Hastings Boys' High School	Boys	Hastings	2	788		227
Hastings Christian School	Coed	Hastings	7	277		443
Hastings Girls' High School	Girls	Hastings	2	652		228
Havelock North High School	Coed	Havelock North	8	1069
Hohepa Home School	Coed	Taradale	8	33	–	4109
Iona College	Girls	Havelock North	9	314		224
Karamu High School	Coed	Hastings	4	925		229
Lindisfarne College	Boys	Hastings	10	498		230
Napier Boys' High School	Boys	Napier	6	1160		216
Napier Girls' High School	Girls	Napier	7	1043		217
Sacred Heart College	Girls	Napier	5	260		219
St John's College	Boys	Hastings	4	383		226
St Joseph's Māori Girls' College	Girls	Taradale	3	217		222
Taikura Rudolf Steiner School	Coed	Hastings	6	370		231
Tamatea High School	Coed	Napier	3	277		218
Taradale High School	Coed	Taradale	8	1053		215
TKKM o Ngati Kahungunu Ki Heretaunga	Coed	Flaxmere	1	178	–	2445
TKKM o Te Ara Hou	Coed	Napier	2	222	–	3107
William Colenso College	Coed	Napier	2	437		220
Woodford House	Girls	Havelock North	9	336		225

Urban Zones

For more information, see Napier, New Zealand and Hastings, New Zealand respectively.

Napier Urban Zone

Napier Urban Zone includes Napier and two tracts of rural land from Hastings District: Bay View to the north and Waiohiki to the south. It also includes the township of Taradale.

Napier hosts the region's only port (the majority of export coming from Hastings' industry and food processing), the region's domestic airport, High Court, the local polytechnic college, and the Hawkes Bay Regional Council headquarters.

Napier on its own is the 10th largest urban area in New Zealand.

Hastings Urban Zone

Hastings Urban Zone lies within the Hastings District and includes Havelock North and Flaxmere. The Hastings District Council consists of almost half of the total population of Hawke's Bay, with 74,000 people. The main urban zone of Hastings contains around 68,000 people.

Hastings hosts the regional Hospital, Hawke's Bay Hospital, along with the regional showgrounds, racecourse, newspaper print, sports park and a water park.

Hastings on its own is the 8th largest urban area in New Zealand.

Amalgamation

Amalgamation is an ongoing debate for Napier and Hastings residents. Both cities have previously had smaller amalgamations (Napier absorbed Taradale, Hastings absorbed Havelock North in the local government reforms of 1989).

There was a referendum on forming a joint Hastings and Napier in 1999, which resulted in 75% 'no' vote from Napier residents, and a 64% 'yes' vote from Hastings residents. Many say the referendum was called too early and many Napier residents were still bitter about the closing of Napier Hospital in 1998 and making Hastings Hospital the only public hospital in the region.

A proposal in 2015 was for the new council to also absorb the Wairoa and Central Hawkes Bay councils to make a super regional council of 150,000 people.[3] This amalgamation referendum was held in September 2015, the majority of voters (~66%) rejected the proposal in favour of the status quo.[4]

Part of recognition of New Zealand's sixth-largest population centre is being labelled that way. Many residents have brought forth renaming the city to reflect this to the rest of the nation instead of referring to the cities by their current separate names. Names proposed include:

• Heretaunga (the name of the plains upon which both cities are situated)
• Hawkes Bay City (reflecting both recognised location and 'city' status)
• Hawke (again, coinciding with the name of the region)
• The Bay City (This perhaps is more in jest, and is already a common nickname)
• Napier-Hastings (The status quo, but still does not address the issue)

References

1. "Subnational Population Estimates: At 30 June 2019". Statistics New Zealand. 22 October 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2020. For urban areas, "Subnational population estimates (UA, AU), by age and sex, at 30 June 1996, 2001, 2006–18 (2017 boundaries)". Statistics New Zealand. 23 October 2018. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
2. "Ariā SNZ". aria.stats.govt.nz.
3. http://i.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/69231122/hawkes-bay-council-merger-recommended-after-wellington-supercity-scrapped
4. "Hawke's Bay Reorganisation Poll : PROGRESS RESULT" (PDF). Electionz.com. Retrieved 17 June 2016.