September 22 2004

Rodney Gets Thumbs-Up from Residents

Rodney residents are generally positive about their district, feel safe living here, think that facilities are improving and that the District Council is doing a pretty good job of keeping them informed.

At the same time, there are areas for improvement for the District Council to work on in future, such as car parking in Orewa and the quality of drinking water in the northern part of the district.

Those are the findings of an independent annual survey of Rodney residents conducted by Phoenix Research.

The survey was done to see how well Rodney District Council had performed against the objectives set out in its 2003 Annual Plan, and involved a random selection of 400 residents being interviewed. Answers were compared to those received last year to reveal trends.

The residents were from all areas of the district and were from all age groups over 15.

Among the major findings are that: People like living here, feel safe and think it is a good place to bring up children An increasing number of residents feel the Council keeps them informed, is available to discuss issues and does a good job representing their needs Half the respondents found it was easy to attend Council meetings and an increasing number feel it is easy to get involved in Council or community affairs More people are aware of local community projects (particularly in the Eastern Ward) There is a general perception that the provision of facilities such as leisure centres and recycling centres is moving in the right direction – although more carparking and community halls are wanted People are happy with access to the coast and beaches, think coastal waters are clean and more people feel there are sufficient boat moorings There are some concerns about the amount of sealed roads and how well road surfaces are maintained (particularly in the west and north of the district) People are generally happier with the quality of drinking water although this remains a concern in the north Wastewater and sewerage services are satisfactory and there is increasing satisfaction with stormwater services, although this is still an issue in western areas Residents are positive about environment control services such as animal and noise control, refuse and litter management and environmental health, but have mixed feelings over building regulations

Rodney District Council performance improvement manager Gill Plume said that the survey was heartening, in that it showed the levels of resident satisfaction were generally growing.

“This is the most in-depth study we have done, and is an important discipline in showing how well we are performing in meeting our goals and giving service to residents.

“We also asked some new questions to find out what people think of the quality of life in Rodney – what it means to them to be living here. This is the first time people have been surveyed to say how they feel about being part of the community and it is encouraging to see such positive feelings emerge.

“At the same time it reveals the areas where people still have concerns. These are issues for the District Council to take on board, and we will be doing so in our next Long-Term Council Community Plan (LTCCP).”

The LTCCP is currently being prepared, and will give a working plan for the Council for the next ten years.

The survey results will be presented to an extraordinary meeting of the District Council tomorrow (September 23) at 1pm.

ENDS

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