Keep Sauna Collective at Ōrewa Beach
Our community is asking Auckland Council and the Hibiscus and Bays Local Board to help keep something good growing.

The reason they want us out is hard to fathum basically Old Manager supported us and  easily saw  real value value to the camp ground and wider community ... new manager comes on board doesnt see any value to the camp ground or the wider community and wants us out.

For the past three years, something pretty special has been quietly developing beside Ōrewa Beach.

What began as a simple idea, a traditional wood-fired community sauna beside the sea, has grown into a place where thousands of people have come to warm up, cool down, connect, talk, laugh, recover, breathe and feel better.

People come before work and after work.

They come after swimming, surfing, running and training.

They come with friends, partners and family.

They come alone and often leave having spoken to somebody they had never met before.

People of different ages, backgrounds, fitness levels and walks of life sit alongside one another in exactly the same space.

That is one of the beautiful things about sauna.

It is remarkably democratic.

Over three years, Sauna Collective has become more than somewhere to get hot.

It has become part of our community.

We would like to keep it that way.

What we are asking

We, the people of the Hibiscus Coast  & wider Auckland , ask Auckland Council and the Hibiscus and Bays Local Board to work constructively with Sauna Collective to enable its Ōrewa operation to remain at the Ōrewa Beach Holiday Park under a fair, practical and commercially viable arrangement.

We believe the Holiday Park is an exceptional home for Sauna Collective and that keeping it there would create significantly more long-term value for Ōrewa than allowing something our community has spent  alot of time ,energy  & love building to disappear.

If remaining at the Holiday Park ultimately proves genuinely impossible, we ask Auckland Council and the Local Board to actively work alongside Sauna Collective to identify an equally viable, accessible and appropriate alternative location within our local community.

Our request is simple.

Keep Sauna Collective in Ōrewa.

 Where it already belongs beside the beach.

If that genuinely cannot happen, help find a solution that allows it to continue.

Because this is about more than a sauna... At a time when loneliness, stress, mental wellbeing, physical health and genuine human connection are increasingly important issues, spaces that naturally bring people together matter.

You simply walk in and share the heat with other people from your community.

Conversation happens.

Connection happens.

People slow down.

People get outside.

They swim.

They move.

They recover.

They look after themselves.

Sometimes something as simple as sitting beside another person for twenty minutes makes somebody's day a little better.

These things can be difficult to measure on a spreadsheet, but they have value.

Mental value. Emotional value. Physical value. Social value. Community value.

That value builds over time.

This is also exactly the kind of outcome Auckland Council says it wants
This is perhaps the most important reason for this petition.

When we look at Auckland Council and Hibiscus and Bays Local Board plans and strategies, the language is remarkably consistent.

They talk about connected communities, people feeling welcome and able to participate, improving health and wellbeing, growing community connection, increasing access and participation, supporting recreation, creating inclusive public spaces, enabling local leadership and innovation, and supporting thriving local economies where businesses grow and communities benefit.

These are not Sauna Collective's words.

These are the kinds of outcomes Auckland Council itself has identified as important for Auckland and for Hibiscus and Bays.

We agree with them.

In many ways, we think Sauna Collective is already delivering them.

Right now, here in Ōrewa.

Auckland Council's community wellbeing strategy, Ngā Hapori Momoho, Thriving Communities Strategy 2022-2032, calls for Auckland to improve health outcomes, grow community connection, increase participation and enable local leadership and innovation.

It also describes a shift in Council's approach towards being an enabler.

That is important.

Council does not always need to create community from scratch.

Sometimes communities create it themselves.

A local idea emerges.

People support it.

It grows.

It proves itself.

At that point, local government's most valuable role can be to recognise what is working and help enable it to continue.

We believe this is one of those moments.

Our own Local Board Plan says much the same thing
The current Hibiscus and Bays planning framework describes a future where ours is a connected, inclusive and resilient community, where people feel welcome, heard, able to participate, belong and thrive.

It also calls for a thriving local economy where businesses grow and communities benefit.

Again, we agree.

So we respectfully ask a simple question.

If a small local business is already helping people connect, participate, improve their wellbeing and enjoy our coastline while growing through genuine community support, isn't that exactly the kind of thing these plans are trying to achieve?

When something emerges organically within a community and begins delivering the outcomes our public strategies call for, surely the first question should be:

How can we help this succeed?

Rather than making it harder than it already is right now... right?

This is also about how we use public space
The Ōrewa Beach Holiday Park occupies an incredibly special part of our community.

We completely recognise that public and Council-controlled land has to be managed responsibly.

Nobody signing this petition is suggesting otherwise.

But public places ultimately exist to create value for the public.

That value is not only financial.

It is also about what a place adds to people's lives.

Does it encourage people outdoors?

Does it encourage healthy activity?

Does it create connection?

Does it make our town more interesting and distinctive?

Does it bring people together?

Does it support local economic activity?

Does the community actually want it there?

We believe those questions matter too.

Council's recreation strategy recognises this ... Auckland Council's own Open Space, Sport and Recreation Strategy recognises that access to open spaces and recreation contributes to Aucklanders living healthier, more active lives.

Feedback informing that strategy strongly recognised the importance of open and green spaces to both mental and physical health and the need for those places to provide a range of activities.

Sauna Collective is not asking Council to invent something to meet those objectives.

Something is already happening.

People are already using it.

People are already benefiting from it.

A community has already formed around it.

The question is whether we allow it to keep growing.

Small businesses can create big community value Sauna Collective is a small business.

We are not pretending otherwise.

But being a business and creating public good are not mutually exclusive.

Local cafés create meeting places.

Gyms improve people's health.

Surf clubs build community.

Markets create connection.

Local events give towns identity.

Sometimes a little wood-fired sauna  beside the beach can do many of those things at once.

Over its first three years, Sauna Collective has also tried to use its platform for more than ordinary commercial bookings through community events, wellbeing experiences, movement and breathwork sessions, and opportunities to introduce new groups and young people to sauna.

We believe communities benefit when local businesses take responsibility for being good members of the places in which they operate.

We also believe local government should want businesses like that to succeed.

We understand that decisions involving Council assets can be complicated.

This petition has a different purpose.

It gives our community a voice.

It gives the people who actually use this place the opportunity to say:

We value this.

We use this.

This contributes something positive to our lives.

This makes our community better.

We want the people making decisions about our community to hear us.

That is not confrontation.

That is local democracy working as it should.

Council says the voices of Aucklanders matter Auckland Council's own strategies recognise the importance of listening to communities and making decisions informed by the voices of Aucklanders.

So this petition is also evidence.

Every name represents a person saying that this matters to them.

As those names grow, we hope the message becomes increasingly difficult to overlook.

Strategies and plans matter, but ultimately their success is measured by what happens in real communities, in real places, with real people.

Three years should be the beginning, not the end
Sauna Collective has only recently reached its third birthday.

Three years is enough time to establish whether a community wants something, but it is still very early in the life of a community-focused business.

Imagine what this could become after five years , ten years hopefully  a long lomg time.

Imagine generations of local kids remembering the little sauna beside the beach.

Imagine more community events, more partnerships, more opportunities for young people, more movement, more swimming and more connection.

That is the opportunity we risk losing.

Once something like this disappears, it can be very difficult to recreate.

Ōrewa should be a place where good ideas are allowed to grow. We believe Ōrewa can be known as a community that embraces outdoor living, wellbeing, recreation, innovation, healthy lifestyles, small business and our extraordinary coastline.

A beachfront community sauna  feels right for our community and would be not just a shame but crazy not fully support and embrace it.

Our message to Auckland Council and the Hibiscus and Bays Local Board is positive
Your own strategies & frameworks  tell us that community connection matters.

Health and wellbeing matter.

Participation matters.

Recreation matters.

Inclusive public spaces matter.

Local innovation matters.

Thriving local businesses matter.

The voices of Aucklanders matter.

We agree.

That is exactly why we are asking you to help keep Sauna Collective in Ōrewa.

Not because Sauna Collective should receive special treatment.

But because when a community-led idea is already delivering so many of the outcomes our public institutions say they want to create, surely that deserves every reasonable effort to help it continue.

Our request
We therefore ask Auckland Council and the Hibiscus and Bays Local Board to:

Work constructively to retain Sauna Collective at the Ōrewa Beach Holiday Park under a fair and workable long-term arrangement.

Listen to the community response represented by this petition when making that decision.
We are not asking Council to create community connection. It is already happening.

We are not asking Council to create a new wellbeing initiative. People are already benefiting.

We are not asking Council to find an innovative use for a coastal location. The community has already found one.

We are simply asking:

Please do not lose something good just as it is beginning to flourish.

If Sauna Collective has added something positive to your life, please sign.

If you believe it adds something positive to Ōrewa, please sign.

If you believe communities should have a meaningful voice in deciding what they value on community land, please sign.

If you believe Council should enable local businesses and community initiatives that are demonstrably making people's lives better, please sign.

And if you simply want to see the "Feel Good Sauna Train  remain part of Ōrewa's future  , please add your name.

Thank you helping to remind the people who ultimately work for us that this is important to us.