Churton Park

History

Churton Park is one of the youngest suburbs in Wellington and was farmland until 1970. In the 1850s Thomas Drake was running 200 sheep in what is now Churton Park.

The suburb was developed by "John Dick Walker" (1926–1981). It was named after Jock Churton; Churton was a director of Fletchers which undertook a number of development projects in the 1960s and 1970s. Rodney Callender now (2024) owns much of the adjacent land awaiting development.

The area of Churton Park near current Lakewood Avenue was originally a swamp Since being established, it is one of the fasted growing subdivisions in Wellington, with the population expected to grow to over 12,000 over the next two decades.

In 2018, Wellington City Council purchased the 268 Ohariu Valley Rd property adding much of the ridge line overlooking Churton Park (from Ohariu Valley Rd to west of the Erlestoke Cres cul-de-sac) to the Outer Green Belt.

Geography

The topography is quite hilly and has regenerating bush in some areas that has not been excavated for housing sub-divisions. Steep hills extend west over to Ohariu Valley. Extensive cut and fill earthworks have been required in the construction of the subdivisions for housing.

Demographics

Churton Park covers 6.06 km2. It had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2.

Before the 2023 census, Churton Park had a smaller boundary, covering 5.96 km2. Using that boundary, Churton Park had a population of 7,254 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 735 people (11.3%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 1,401 people (23.9%) since the 2006 census. There were 2,409 households, comprising 3,522 males and 3,735 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.94 males per female, with 1,587 people (21.9%) aged under 15 years, 1,218 (16.8%) aged 15 to 29, 3,696 (51.0%) aged 30 to 64, and 759 (10.5%) aged 65 or older.

Ethnicities were 59.2% European/Pākehā, 5.0% Māori, 2.4% Pasifika, 37.8% Asian, and 2.9% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity.

The percentage of people born overseas was 41.3, compared with 27.1% nationally.

Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 46.2% had no religion, 36.1% were Christian, 6.7% were Hindu, 2.9% were Buddhist, 1.8% were Muslim, 1.6% had other religions, and 0.1% had Māori religious beliefs,

Of those at least 15 years old, 2,448 (43.2%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 408 (7.2%) people had no formal qualifications. 1,983 people (35.0%) earned over $70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 3,222 (56.9%) people were employed full-time, 756 (13.3%) were part-time, and 180 (3.2%) were unemployed.

Education

School enrolment zones

Churton Park is within the enrolment zones for Onslow College, Newlands College, Newlands Intermediate, St Oran's College, Raroa Normal Intermediate, Amesbury School, and Churton Park School. Wellington College is also a popular school, however it is not in zone and any pupils will have to enter a ballot to be selected. There are two ballots: one for Year 9, and one for Year 10–13.

Primary schools

Churton Park has two state primary schools that cater for pupils up to Year 6. Churton Park School on Churton Drive is an established school, and the roll has rapidly increased over the years. To accommodate these increases, there were many renovations to the buildings between 1997 and 2007. In 2006, and even more major renovations from 2019 to 2023, to help manage roll growth, the School Board proposed an amendment to the zoning policy/area. This was heatedly debated in the community as the proposal would have removed several long-standing streets from the Zone. The associated community concern, protest action and lobbying by the Campaign for Local Schooling and parent feedback resulted in the announcement by the Ministry of Education in 2007 that a new, larger, school site would be developed in the area. On 17 March 2009, Minister of Education Anne Tolley announced that a second primary school would be built in the area instead.

Amesbury School on Amesbury Drive opened at the start of 2012. It has about 350 pupils and is growing. The Amesbury Hall at the school was opened in May by Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown. The construction of the hall was funded in part by the proceeds from the sale of part of the school site (which was held as a Reserve) by WCC to the Ministry of Education. The Amesbury Hall is available for community use.

Preschools

There is a little school on Melksham Drive off Westchester Drive and Churton Park Kindergarten next to Churton Park School.

Mining

There are historic gold mining shafts in the area. Tawa Flats All Luck Gold Mining Company shafts of 1881 included one now buried beneath Erlestoke Crescent.

Public transport

The suburb consists of two public routes, and multiple school routes operated by Metlink, a subsidiary under Tranzurban. The Route 1 connects Churton Park to Johnsonville, the city center, Newtown and Island Bay. The Route 19 acts as a Johnsonville loop. A separate service along Middleton Road connects Johnsonville to Tawa and Porirua.

There were plans for a train station in Churton Park, however, a 2017 report said that the proposed commuter railway station near Churton Park on the Kāpiti Line (and actually in Glenside) was too expensive.

References

References

1. Burgess, Dave. (9 June 2009). "New school for 'forgotten suburb'". The Dominion Post.
2. Romanos, Joseph. (5 April 2013). "The heart of Churton Park". The Wellingtonian.
3. Bremner, Julie. (1983). "Wellington's Northern Suburbs 1840–1918". Millwood Press.
4. Memorial plaque at lower entrance to John Walker Park.
5. Churton, Memé. (2012). "Memé: the three worlds of an Italian-Chinese New Zealander". David Ling.
6. "Jock Churton".
7. Gourley, Erin. (March 8, 2024). "Rodney Callender".
8. "Churton Park Village".
9. (4 February 2023). "Churton Park directory".
10. "Draft Outer Green Belt Management Plan, Sector 2 – Wellington City Council".
11. "ArcGIS Web Application".
12. {{NZ census 2018. Churton Park North (248100) and Churton Park South (248300)
13. {{NZ census place summary 2018. churton-park-north. Churton Park North
14. {{NZ census place summary 2018. churton-park-south. Churton Park South
15. "eLearning Schools Search".
16. "New School for Churton Park".
17. "Media Statement from Minister of Education".
18. Thomson, Rebecca. (9 Feb 2012). "New Churton Park school opens". stuff.
19. "Glenside community".
20. "Wellington's Outer Green Belt Management Plan – April 2004, Wellington City Council".
21. (16 June 2017). "Railway station unlikely for Wellington's Churton Park". Papers Past (New Zealand).