A perception survey commissioned by the Whakatāne District Council has found that district residents rate their ‘quality of life’ significantly higher than people living elsewhere in the country.
Some 60 percent of the 300 people who took part in the recent National Research Bureau Communitrak survey rated the quality of life in the District as “very good” (the most positive possible response), compared to the 42 percent average recorded in other similar districts and 38 percent nationally. Just one percent of Whakatāne District respondents ranked the quality of life as ‘poor’.
The Communitrak survey provides participating Councils with an understanding of how residents and ratepayers perceive their services, elected representatives and staff. This allows Councils to track year-on-year trends in perceived performance and also compare findings in each subject surveyed against a peer group of similar authorities and Councils around the country.
The survey found that more than 70% of local respondents were either “fairly satisfied” or “very satisfied” with over three-quarters of the Council’s services and facilities.
Seven services received satisfaction scores of 90 percent or more: customer service front desk (93 percent); sewerage systems (92 percent); kerbside waste removal (91 percent); council roads (91 percent); Library and Exhibition Centre (90 percent); cemeteries (90 percent); and sport fields (90 percent).
Deputy Mayor Judy Turner says that because this is the first time Council has used the Communitrak survey methodology, the results are not directly comparable to the previous years’ findings.
“Nevertheless, it is a very useful benchmark from which to gauge performance in future surveys and the Communitrak data also shows that the community’s perception is that the Council is performing better than our peer group councils in a number of key areas,” she says. “In particular, respondents felt the Council’s effort to keep the public informed and maintain roads were well above average, and the performance of staff in general was also highly rated.”
“The survey has also helped raise awareness of areas that residents and ratepayers felt should receive more attention,” Mrs Turner says. “Some of these, like stormwater services, have already been highlighted by community concerns following the Easter weekend extreme weather event and will be addressed through projects which are either underway, or will be completed during the current financial year.”
Other areas that respondents felt should receive more spending focus included business and tourism promotion, as well as attracting and retaining new residents.
The performance rating for the Mayor and Councillors was ranked as very or fairly good by 47 percent of participants, with a further 34 percent rating it as just acceptable. Ten percent of respondents rated their performance as not very good or poor, with the remainder not expressing an opinion.