…because it’s election time. The Departments of Statistics, now called Statistics NZ, information from the last census in 2013 is the prime authoritative source for facts and figures and the link to what’s on its website about Waikanae is here. It points out that because of the Christchurch earthquakes in 2010-2011, the normal 5 year census scheduled for 2011 was delayed for 2 years so there is a 7 year gap from the previous census in 2006.
For its purposes, Statistics NZ splits the town in into areas: Waikanae Beach, Waikanae West, Waikanae Park and Waikanae East. Presumably ‘East’ means what is to the east of the railway line, and ‘Beach’ is what will be west of the Expressway, but we will check with them to confirm.
Does this mean that in the Kapiti Coast, 75% of the population is struggling or on a tight budget, while this council increases rates by 2,3 or 4 times the rate of inflation?
Probably a lot of people in Waikanae are not well off — one-person households make up 38.4 percent of all households in Waikanae West and 29.4% in the whole Kapiti Coast District. So if around 30% of households make do on an income of less than $20,000 a year, then what the KCDC takes from them in Rates + Water Charges will be significant.
But we need more stats, and will be obtaining them in the next weeks.