West Melton is a town in the Selwyn District, in the Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. It is located west of Christchurch and is part of the Christchurch metropolitan area. The town has a population of 2,640 (June 2022), making it the 124th-largest urban area in New Zealand, the 16th-largest in Canterbury and fifth-largest in the Selwyn District (behind Darfield and before Leeston). History West Melton was first settled in the 1870s, where it has long been associated with horse racing (trotting), cropping, and sheep farming. Recently, it has become associated with wine growing and deer farming. In 1881, Alfred Saunders arrived in West Melton, where he bought a farm that he referred to as a “bleak and wild looking property”. On 26 October 2014, West Melton residents celebrated the town's 150th anniversary. Urban expansion In 2007, West Melton saw the start of its urban expansion. Gainsborough and Halkett Grove subdivisions were the first developments to be built, followed by Preston Downs to the west of Gainsborough and a third subdivision called Wilfield built to the south of Gainsborough. One more subdivision and a southern extension of Wilfield are planned to be built. This third subdivision is being developed by Hughes Developments Ltd, and will be built to the east of Gainsborough. A retirement village, developed by Marama Te Wai Ltd, is to be built to the west of Preston Downs. This is in contrast to scaled-down plans. In December 2020, original plans were for a 50-hectare subdivision to be built, however, in June 2022, only 12.5 hectares was allocated for zoning change. The spread of housing developments into fertile rural land has led to tensions between the traditional farming community and recent arrivals. It is common for these tensions to spill onto community notice boards. Demographics West Melton is described by Statistics New Zealand as a small urban area, and covers . It had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2. West Melton had a population of 2,085 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 1,305 people (167.3%) since the 2013 census, and an increase of 1,758 people (537.6%) since the 2006 census. There were 675 households. There were 1,017 males and 1,068 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.95 males per female. The median age was 39.7 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 549 people (26.3%)