Have your say on how we promote healthier lifestyles

Published on 07 October 2024

We’re keen to hear your views on how we can improve the health and wellbeing of our residents and visitors, with the introduction of our proposed new Health Promotion Policy 2024.  

David Murphy, Palmerston North City Council's General Manager of Strategic Planning, says this new policy aims to update how we promote healthier lifestyle choices, including by updating and merging three of our current policies into one. 

"Our review has revealed the opportunity to unify our existing policies on healthy beverages, smokefree and vapefree environments, and sun protection into one cohesive framework. It also includes a range of changes aimed at fostering a healthier community.  

"As a key provider of public facilities and events in Palmerston North, we’re committed to reflecting our community’s values. This policy would enable us to expand how we promote and provide healthy options across the events and places we manage."

The draft policy includes a requirement for sunblock stations to be available at ‘council delivered community events’, which are those directly delivered by us like Esplanade Day and Diwali, between the daylight-saving months of September to April.  

The policy proposes extending the list of Council facilities where sugar-sweetened beverages, like some fizzy drinks and flavoured milk, cannot be sold. 

These new facilities would include Caccia Birch, Central Energy Trust Arena, Central Energy Trust Wildbase Recovery, Council's Civic Administration Building and Customer Service Centre, isite Palmerston North, Palmerston North Conference and Function Centre, and Youth Space. They’ve been included in the proposed new policy as most have already transitioned to no longer selling these types of beverages. 

Mr Murphy says the proposed policy also aims to raise public awareness of the ways we promote and provide healthy choices, and to advocate to central government to achieve the policy’s goals. 

“We want to provide healthier options at our own events and publicly owned spaces and to educate the community and other providers on how they can do this too. And we want the government to make sure the wellbeing of Palmy residents is considered in the decisions they make which affect our community.” 

The proposed changes would ensure our smokefree and vapefree signage is now in both te reo Māori and English and would widen the mandate of Council’s current smokefree and vapefree reference group to become the health promotion reference group. 

For more information or to have your say on our proposed Health Promotion Policy 2024, make sure you fill in a submission at pncc.govt.nz/healthpolicies. Consultation closes Friday 8 November 2024.