May 2010
Toi-EDA has engaged BERL to undertake some demographic research to provide a better understanding around migration patterns of people into the urban centres of Whakatane, Kawerau and Opotiki.
The initial research will focus on:
- Understanding where population is coming from and why this may be happening
- Understanding the demographics of the population leaving
- Confirm the validity of the assumption that "asset rich" are moving from metro areas to settle in Whakatane
- Identify where efforts should be put to stimulate growth.
Stage One will be a desk-based exercise utilising census and other data to identify the changes in the population and the composition of those changes. These will be related to national behaviour changes which have caused high population growth over the last 15 years.
The population will be broken down by Maori/non-Maori in an effort to understand the Maori trend. The analysis should give a good indication of where people are moving into the region from and the types of people (age, incomes and employment status). It will also let us know what demographic is leaving the region.
Based on the information gathered in stage one, we will have a better idea of the types of people moving into and out of the region and the second stage of the exercise aims to answer the question of "why" people are moving into the region. This will be a survey based approach where BERL will work with Toi-EDA to design a survey to collect the necessary information. Toi-EDA will undertake the survey and BERL will analyse the results.
Stage One will be completed by June and Stage Two will be done later in the year.
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