The Whakatāne District Council’s 2015 Communitrak Survey results have confirmed an improving trend in community satisfaction with most services and activities, as well as highlighting some ‘could do better’ areas to continue focusing on.
A report received by the Council’s Policy Committee today indicated that more than 80 percent of the areas reported on had shown improved satisfaction results, with seven areas showing small decreases.
Mayor Tony Bonne has welcomed the findings and says they indicate the Council is on the right track. “It was particularly pleasing to see Council’s front desk staff, parks and reserves, roads, walking and cycling facilities and kerbside waste collections all recognised with community satisfaction levels between 85 and 92 percent. There were also some significant satisfaction gains recorded for playgrounds, libraries, public halls, water supplies, event promotion, the exhibition centre at Te Kōputu and efforts to manage Whakatāne Airport,” he says.
“Business promotion and stormwater services also recorded strong improvements, but from relatively low satisfaction levels, and it’s no coincidence that both of those areas feature prominently in our recently adopted Long Term Plan.”
Topping the list of areas where respondents wanted to see more spending were:
- Business promotion
- Efforts to attract and retain residents
- Tourism promotion
- Stormwater services
- Events promotion
Small drops in satisfaction were noted for the amount of information provided for the community and the performance of Council elected members. The performance rating for Council staff increased slightly to 82 percent.
“The community’s rating of the quality of life the District offers confirms what we all know – that the Whakatāne District is a great place to live. Some 64 percent of respondents rated our quality of life as ‘very good’, which is massively higher than the national average of 39 percent measured across all of the local authorities included in the survey,” Mayor Bonne says. “Of course, much of that relates to our outstanding climate and environment, but it also reflects the totality of the services the Council provides.”
The survey involved a random selection of 303 residents across all parts of the District, with samples proportionate to gender, ethnicity, age and ward populations.