Grenada North

Story

Grenada North is a small suburb in northern Wellington, New Zealand. It is 5 km south of Porirua's city centre, and 13 km north of Wellington's city centre. As of 2006, it has 336 people in 105 occupied dwellings. Its western boundary is formed by State Highway 1 (SH 1N) and Takapu Road. The suburb itself was named after Grenada in the Caribbean, and most streets are named after Caribbean islands.The Caribbean Avenue Reserve can be accessed from Caribbean Drive.HistoryThe suburb was developed by Glendene Developments Ltd in the 1970s so was originally called Glendene, and was expected to join up soon with the suburb of Grenada further south. To meet increased education demand in the Northern suburbs a new Glendene Secondary School was proposed, but by 1980 it was decided that a new co-ed secondary school was not needed and may never be needed. The 14.5 hectare site with sports fields in Jamaica Drive developed by the government was leased to the Wellington City Council for use as playing fields, and was later (c1989) sold to the council. The residential area south towards Grenada is only now (c2015) being developed.DemographicsGrenada North is 53% male, and has a younger population than Wellington as a whole, with 3.5% of people 65 or older (compared to 11.5%). It has a larger percentage of minorities than Wellington as a whole: 28% Māori (compared to 13%), 20% Pacific Islanders (compared to 8%), 12% Asians (compared to 8%), and 4% Middle Eastern/Latin American/African (compared to 1%). It is less well-educated than Wellington as a whole, with 34% of people age 15 or older having no formal qualifications (compared to 20%), and 30% having a post-school qualification (compared to 46%).