The Kāpiti Coast District (officially the Kapiti Coast District) is a local government district of the Wellington Region in the lower North Island of New Zealand, north of Wellington City. The district is named after Kapiti Island, a prominent island offshore.
The population of the district is concentrated in a chain of coastal settlements along State Highway One: Ōtaki, Te Horo, Waikanae, Paraparaumu, Raumati Beach, Raumati South, and Paekākāriki. Paraparaumu is the most populous of these towns and the commercial and administrative centre. Much of the rural land is given over to horticulture; market gardens are common along the highway between the settlements. The area available for agriculture and settlement is narrow and coastal. Much of the eastern part of the district is within the Tararua Forest Park, which covers the rugged Tararua Range, with peaks rising to over .
Geography
The Kāpiti Coast District stretches from Ōtaki in the north to Paekākāriki in the south. It includes the towns of Te Horo, Waikanae, Paraparaumu, Raumati Beach, Raumati South, and smaller localities such as Maungakotukutuku, Otaihanga, and Peka Peka. It extends from the Tasman Sea coast to the top of the Tararua Range. Kapiti Island, a prominent offshore feature, is part of the district.
The district is not generally considered part of the Wellington metropolitan area, being distant from Wellington City, Porirua and the Hutt Valley, which make up the nucleus of the area. Still, Waikanae is considered by many to be the absolute northernmost point Wellington can be considered to reach as a city. Many residents travel into Wellington each day for work, and the district is a popular weekend destination for the people of the Wellington Region. The town of Paraparaumu, considered the pivot of the district, is located about 55 km north of Wellington.
The area has an oceanic climate with moderate temperature swings between seasons, resulting in warm summers and mild winters without any severe heat waves or cold spells.
History The district was occupied by the Muaūpoko Māori tribe up to the 19th century. Ngāti Toa, led by chief Te Rauparaha, migrated to the district in the 1820s. Te Rauparaha established a base on Kapiti Island, from where he was able to launch attacks on other tribes during the Musket Wars of the early 19th century. Around this time, Europeans began whaling in the area, and on 16 October 1839, William Wakefield of the New Zealand Company arrived in the Kapiti region to purchase land for permanent European settlement. Te Rauparaha sold him land in the Nelson and Golden Bay area.
European settlement of the Kāpiti Coast only took place on a significant scale after the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company (WMR) opened its railway line from Wellington to Longburn, just south of Palmerston North. The line was opened in 1886, with the final spike driven in on the Kāpiti Coast at Otaihanga. Paekākāriki was quickly established as a significant steam locomotive depot due to the need to swap locomotives at the location; powerful, heavy locomotives were required to handle trains over the rugged section from Wellington to Paekākāriki, while lighter, faster locomotives were more suited to the relatively flat terrain north of Paekākāriki. In 1908, the WMR was purchased by the New Zealand Railways Department, who incorporated the line into the North Island Main Trunk railway.
In June 1940, the Wellington-Paekākāriki section was electrified as electric locomotives provided better motive power. This meant trains would swap from steam (and later diesel-electric) to electric traction in Paekākāriki, and it retained its status as a significant locomotive depot. It also became the northern terminus of the Wellington commuter railway network until 8 May 1983, when it was extended to Paraparaumu. In February 2011, electrification reached Waikanae, which became the new terminus.
During World War II, Queen Elizabeth Park – a large tract of parkland between Raumati South and Paekākāriki – was the location of two United States Army and Marines camps, McKay and Russell. US troops were stationed at the camps in 1942–44 prior to being sent into combat in the Pacific Ocean theatre.
After World War II, Wellington's Rongotai Airport was closed due to safety reasons in 1947 and Kapiti Coast Airport became the main airport for the Wellington Region. In 1949, it was New Zealand's busiest airport and helped to stimulate growth on the Kāpiti Coast. The Wellington International Airport was opened in 1959 and Paraparaumu Airport never regained its status, with some of its land sold for residential development in the 1990s and 2000s.
Name and etymology Although "Kapiti Coast District" is the official name of the district, the council uses the spelling "Kāpiti" for its name. Despite sharing the same spelling, the name is unrelated to the Māori word for "cabbage" ().
In April 2010 the council starting using macrons in the spelling of Kāpiti, Ōtaki and Paekākāriki in council papers, publications, maps and signage. Despite this, the council did not make an application to the New Zealand Geographic Board to add a macron to the name of the district as the macron is used to aid pronunciation rather than spelling.
In a back and forth manner, vandals have repeatedly added and removed macrons from signage in the district.
Administration District Council
The parts of the district south of the Waikanae River were originally part of the now defunct Hutt County. The Kapiti Borough Council was carved from it in 1973.
In New Zealand's local government reforms of 1989, the borough council was replaced by the Kapiti Coast District Council, and the area under its jurisdiction expanded northwards to include Waikanae and Ōtaki, which had been part of the Horowhenua County. The council is a territorial authority with a governing body that is elected by residents every three years. The governing body consists of a mayor and 10 councillors. Two councillors are elected for the Paraparaumu ward, one each for the Ōtaki, Paekākāriki-Raumati and Waikanae wards, and five are elected at-large. Kapiti Island is part of the Paraparaumu ward.
Regional Council Greater Wellington Regional Council is responsible for regional governance of the district and the wider region, including public transport, water and environmental management.
Demographics Kāpiti Coast District covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2.
Kāpiti Coast District had a population of 55,914 in the 2023 New Zealand census, an increase of 2,241 people (4.2%) since the 2018 census, and an increase of 6,810 people (13.9%) since the 2013 census. There were 26,523 males, 29,139 females and 252 people of other genders in 23,097 dwellings. 3.7% of people identified as LGBTIQ+. The median age was 48.8 years (compared with 38.1 years nationally). There were 9,057 people (16.2%) aged under 15 years, 7,659 (13.7%) aged 15 to 29, 24,282 (43.4%) aged 30 to 64, and 14,916 (26.7%) aged 65 or older.
People could identify as more than one ethnicity. The results were 86.6% European (Pākehā); 15.8% Māori; 3.8% Pasifika; 6.2% Asian; 1.0% Middle Eastern, Latin American and African New Zealanders (MELAA); and 2.7% other, which includes people giving their ethnicity as "New Zealander". English was spoken by 97.6%, Māori language by 4.7%, Samoan by 0.5% and other languages by 10.0%. No language could be spoken by 1.6% (e.g. too young to talk). New Zealand Sign Language was known by 0.6%. The percentage of people born overseas was 23.5, compared with 28.8% nationally.
Religious affiliations were 31.3% Christian, 0.8% Hindu, 0.3% Islam, 0.6% Māori religious beliefs, 0.6% Buddhist, 0.6% New Age, 0.1% Jewish, and 1.3% other religions. People who answered that they had no religion were 57.5%, and 7.1% of people did not answer the census question.
Of those at least 15 years old, 9,516 (20.3%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, 24,621 (52.5%) had a post-high school certificate or diploma, and 9,537 (20.4%) people exclusively held high school qualifications. The median income was $39,100, compared with $41,500 nationally. 6,636 people (14.2%) earned over $100,000 compared to 12.1% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 20,856 (44.5%) people were employed full-time, 6,711 (14.3%) were part-time, and 1,080 (2.3%) were unemployed.
+Individual wardsName Area(km2) Population Density(per km2) Dwellings Median age Medianincome Ōtaki Ward 433.31 9,066 21 3,720 45.7 years $35,900 Paraparaumu Ward 110.40 23,298 211 9,465 47.3 years $39,000 Waikanae Ward 169.81 15,405 91 6,696 54.3 years $38,600 Paekākāriki-Raumati Ward 18.00 8,142 452 3,213 45.2 years $45,600 New Zealand 38.1 years $41,500
Many of the residents work in Wellington.
The population of the district has grown rapidly since the 1980s, fuelled in large part by Wellingtonians moving there to retire.
Populated places Kāpiti Coast District consists of the following towns, localities, settlements and communities:
Ōtaki Ward: Ōtaki Ōtaki Beach Te Horo Te Horo Beach Hautere Forest Lakes Marycrest Ōtaki North
Paekākāriki-Raumati Ward: Paekākāriki Area: Paekākāriki Queen Elizabeth Park Moonshine Valley Mackay Emerald Green Whareroa Raumati Area: Raumati Beach Raumati South Whareroa
Paraparaumu Ward: Paraparaumu Paraparaumu Beach Maungakōtukutuku Otaihanga Nikau Valley Tūteremoana
Waikanae Ward: Waikanae Reikorangi Waikanae Beach Peka Peka Waikanae Downs
Economy and transport The Kāpiti Coast District had a modelled gross domestic product (GDP) of $1,985 million in the year to March 2024, 0.5% of New Zealand's national GDP. The GDP per capita was $33,832, the lowest of all territorial authorities.
The Kāpiti Coast is well known for its cheeses and other products from Lindale. Light industry is focused in Paraparaumu and Ōtaki, with small clusters in Waikanae and Raumati.
Many of the Kāpiti Coast's residents are not employed in the area. Instead, they commute to jobs in Wellington. Transdev operates electric commuter trains along a portion of the North Island Main Trunk Railway referred to as the Kāpiti Line on behalf of Metlink (the Greater Wellington public transport brand), and the KiwiRail Capital Connection commuter train from Palmerston North to Wellington provides a service for commuters north of the electric terminus in Waikanae. The district is on the North Island Main Trunk railway line (NIMT) and served as far north as Waikanae by suburban passenger trains on the Kāpiti Line, one of Wellington's three Metlink commuter rail links. Metlink also provides regular local bus services throughout the Kāpiti Coast, operated by Uzabus.
In February 2017, an 18 km (11 mi) long expressway diversion from Mackays Crossing north of Paekākāriki to just north of Peka Peka, was opened to enable State Highway 1 to bypass developed urban areas. An extension to just north of Ōtaki opened in December 2022. State Highway One connects the Kāpiti Coast to Wellington. Before the long-mooted Transmission Gully Motorway opened in March 2022, the road (now re-designated State Highway 59) was a narrow, highly congested coastal highway and has been subject to occasional closure due to landslides.