Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete our feedback survey during the informal engagement.

We received 130 responses, and this is what we heard:

The most frequent reason for visiting a cemetery was to visit the grave of a loved one (52% of respondents) and the second most frequent reason was for exercise (38%).

80% of respondents were aware of the historical significance of Karori and Tawa Cemeteries. More than half would be interested in finding out more about family burial records, Wellington’s past and New Zealand’s past from cemetery records.

66% of respondents were aware that family members are responsible for the upkeep of graves and headstones. There were a number of requests for more guidance on how best to undertake that care.

We asked about preferences for how graves should look and be maintained. The majority (58%) of respondents preferred somewhere in between looking new and clean, and allowing gravestones to become aged and gradually overgrown.

There was a wide spectrum of views about the concept of future graves being re-used, provided that original burial records were preserved. 50% of respondents either definitely or somewhat disagreed with this idea, while 41% definitely agreed or somewhat agreed, and 9% were neutral.

Comments highlighted the difficult access in parts of the cemeteries, appreciation of the cemeteries as peaceful places to visit, and appreciation of the service that our cemeteries staff provide.

These findings will be considered in conjunction with feedback from key stakeholder groups and will used to inform the development of a draft plan. The draft plan will go out for formal consultation in November 2020.