MEDIA RELEASE    DATE: 17 June 2013

Residents Rate Council Service Highly

The vast majority of South Taranaki residents are happy with the service council provides according to an independent survey.

The National Research Bureau (NRB) telephone poll of 403 residents across all five South Taranaki wards found that 91% of residents were happy with the overall service the Council provides, while 4% were not satisfied and 5% were unable to comment. 

Overall 74% of residents were also satisfied with the way rates are spent on services and facilities provided by the Council, while 17% were not very satisfied and 9% did not know.

The survey showed satisfaction with the way rates are spent on services and facilities was up 6% on last year's result and is 12% better than resident satisfaction in similar sized councils across New Zealand.

The survey, which has been conducted regularly since 1993, allows the South Taranaki District Council (STDC) to assess its performance and compares residents’ views with those of other districts around New Zealand.

Council services and facilities which residents were most satisfied with were the district’s libraries (98%), tidiness and maintenance of cemeteries (95%), halls (94%), parks and reserves (92%), and the kerbside rubbish and recycling service (91%).  The areas of greatest dissatisfaction were with the condition of roads (29% dissatisfied) and cleanliness of public toilets (32%).

Council CEO, Craig Stevenson, says he is very pleased with the results of the survey although there is still room for improvement. “Councils are, by their very nature, targets of intense scrutiny and criticism, so it's pleasing to see that overall the majority of our residents are happy with what we do,” says Mr Stevenson.

“I know how passionately our staff work for the people of South Taranaki and we are continually looking at ways we can lift the bar in terms of performance,” he says.

The district wide telephone survey was conducted using random selection method by the National Research Bureau over February and March 2013.

ENDS

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