Letter to Manukau – Issue 81

Perception a Reality

Every year we do a citizens perception survey where 500 of our residents are questioned on their views relating to the council's performance on a range of issues.

I find the survey interesting because the snapshot of views is being solicited by an independent party.

The survey covers all sorts of things, from citizens' views on the use of swimming pools, libraries and recreation centres, to their views of law and order issues and what they think of our rubbish collections.

It has been noteworthy that the general view of our performance as a council and people's appreciation of being residents of our city has been positive. The two that I watch in particular have given me, as mayor, confidence in our council and some satisfaction in terms of the service we providing to our people.

One of the questions asked was whether or not the respondent feels that the council has shown leadership through the year. In 2007 the perception survey showed an overall satisfaction level that council had shown leadership at only 40 per cent support. This year that figure increased to 69 per cent. I am still not happy that 30 per cent of our community still does not think that we showed sufficient leadership on issues within our community and nationally and so I know a lot more work needs to be done as a council looking to the future.

The second statistic is whether or not the community feels satisfied they are involved sufficiently in the decision making process of council. For me this is a key indicator as to whether we are succeeding as a council, and listening and responding to our community.

This year 60 per cent of residents said that they were satisfied with public involvement in decision making. this is a significant improvement since the 2008 survey where only 48 per cent reported that they were happy with consultation. I would like to see 100 per cent satisfaction levels. What the results indicate is a trend in the right direction that we are really bringing our community into our decision making, respecting their views and are seen to be listening and responding where appropriate.

Beaumonts Bridge
This week we opened the new Beaumonts Bridge on Great South Road, Manurewa. The first bridge was erected in 1916 and its replacement was long overdue.

Three key factors determined the need for us to demolish the old bridge and erect a new bridge. The first is that the bridge has an unusual angle across approach the railway line, resulting in sharp corners on the approaches. This gave rise to both bottlenecks and a significant number of car accidents at the bridge over the years. It also caused a significant backlog of traffic coming out of Greenmeadows Intermediate School.

The planned electrification of Auckland's rail network will include electrifying the main trunk line to Papakura. The old bridge was too low to allow this and there needed to be a significant increase in height for electrification of the rail line to go ahead.

Thirdly, the new Beaumonts Bridge has extra capacity to allow for predicted traffic growth along Great South Road. It is stronger so it can cope with the increasing volume of heavy trucks moving goods between north and south.

Manukau City Council
I want to acknowledge to our broader community the outstanding work, in a time of real change and uncertainty, of our Chief Executive Officer, Leigh Auton, the directors, managers and all the staff of our council.

Through the Super City debate, the media has tended to overlook the fact that 6500 people employed in the councils across this region are wondering what the future holds for them when the new Auckland Council becomes a reality in 15 months.

It is a compliment to Leigh and his team that they have managed this process of transition and change in helping people to adjust their employment aspirations and work their way through this change in a measured way.

What many of the decision makers in this process of change overlook is that the nuts and bolts of what we do in local government is delivered at the coalface to our community - through our pools, libraries, reserves, parks, roading departments, recycling projects and programmes, landfills and all of our services - by people that our community have come to know, understand, respect and have high regard for.

I want to acknowledge my colleagues around our council table. While times are uncertain, I have been hugely impressed with my colleagues' continued focus on the tasks at hand and the work they are doing in the community, which they have reflected back into our council chamber. We all share a determination as a council to conclude our civic work with our heads held high and commitment to the future of our community.

Enjoy your week

Len Brown
Mayor of Manukau

ENDS

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