DCC has Firm Focus on Helping Business

Dunedin (Wednesday, 20 May 2015) – Plenty of positive action is underway to help local businesses and promote economic development, the Dunedin City Council says.

Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) today released the results of its inaugural Local Government Survey, carried out from June to September last year, which asked the public and businesses about their perceptions of city, district and regional councils across New Zealand. This included a booster survey for Dunedin businesses.

Mayor of Dunedin Dave Cull says, “The national results show local government has an image problem in general. We need to do more to make the community aware of what we do. This includes highlighting the broad range of services we provide, from local roads, street lights and sportsgrounds to libraries, events funding, and kerbside rubbish and recycling collection.

“We also need to improve our overall performance at an operational and governance level.”

The LGNZ Dunedin business booster results showed Dunedin businesses were less satisfied with local government’s role in economic development and regulation compared with the national average, but a recently completed DCC survey gives a much more positive picture.

“The LGNZ survey was carried out last year and a lot has changed since then. We recently commissioned a business satisfaction survey to help us get a better idea of how the DCC is perceived and where we need to lift our game.”

Mr Cull says it is important to recognise the LGNZ survey was about reputation, whereas the DCC business survey centred on satisfaction levels of businesses that had actually used DCC services.

“They both matter, but they are different.”

Director Enterprise Dunedin John Christie says the online anonymous survey targeted businesses which have had direct contact with the DCC over the past year. The survey closed on 6 May. Preliminary high level results show that of the respondents, about half agreed the DCC provides an environment that is ‘business friendly’, a quarter were neutral and just under a quarter disagreed. Almost half the respondents also agree the DCC is effective.

DCC General Manager Services and Development Simon Pickford says the survey highlighted areas where the DCC needs to improve.

“We already work closely with developers and large businesses to make the process as easy as we can, through initiatives such as the ‘red carpet’ project.

“However, we can do a lot more to help small and medium sized businesses. In general, they want to do it right and follow the rules, but we don’t make it as easy as we could and we are putting a lot of thought and resources into changing that.

“We want to make sure all businesses receive excellent advice and support and business friendly service from the DCC.”

Mr Christie says it is good to have some clear, current messages from Dunedin businesses and he thanked them for taking the time to respond to the survey.

“We get both good and bad anecdotal feedback, but what we needed was more detailed information so we get an understanding of the service businesses are receiving and where we can do more. These survey results will help us identify and respond to specific issues.”

The DCC intends to carry out a regular business satisfaction survey.

Mr Christie says there are many Economic Development Strategy initiatives which are working well and getting real results for the city. These include work being done through Project China and Export Education, as well as Gigatown.

Sexy Summer Jobs, Dunedin’s successful summer intern programme, has led to about 126 full and part time positions being created by businesses since the programme began in 2008.

Enterprise Dunedin staff provide valuable input and assistance around cruise ship planning and hosting. They assist with major event promotion and brand development, which helps make the city a vibrant, attractive place in which to live, work, study and invest.

In the Regulatory Services area, which includes building consents and environmental health regulations, the DCC has a wide range of activities underway to help businesses expand and develop.

Mr Pickford says, “We’re meeting developers and business people to get their views on how we can help. We’re working closely with Enterprise Dunedin, for example at the new business clinics, and we’re trying to have a closer liaison with relevant organisations such as Master Builders.

Staff are working to produce a one stop shop guide for setting up a business in Dunedin. This will be available online and in hard copy. Staff are also introducing case management, which means individual staff will help business people and developers liaise with different departments.

“We’re also streamlining regulatory processes where we can. This includes putting processes online where possible and, in time, we hope to have systems where people can log in and check what stage their building consent is at in the process, for example.

“The local government sector overall struggles to get recognition, particularly in the area of economic development. As well as our own business survey, our annual Residents’ Opinion Survey (ROS) results are more positive than the LGNZ survey results and recognise our work to retain existing businesses in Dunedin.

“It’s also important to see these results in a wider context. Our 2014 ROS results show more residents were satisfied with the DCC’s overall performance than in any year since 2003.”

The LGNZ Dunedin business booster survey had a random sample of 111 businesses. The DCC survey of businesses had 317 responses and the ROS achieves a sample of about 1200 residents.

The Local Government Survey is available at www.lgnz.co.nz. To see the results of the LGNZ Dunedin business booster and a Dunedin public booster visit www.dunedin.govt.nz/lgnz-survey. The high level DCC business survey results are available at www.dunedin.govt.nz/services/business-support/business-survey-report.

ENDS

© Scoop Media