Marlborough District Council has again received a relatively high resident satisfaction score, with 62% of residents saying they are satisfied with its services.

While the satisfaction level had been comparatively high over the last decade, it decreased to 62% in 2022 from 68% in 2021. However, the Council’s overall satisfaction rating is still on a par with the New Zealand national benchmark for councils.

Mayor Nadine Taylor said while it had been a difficult year for a variety of reasons, satisfaction levels were maintained in many areas of Council services.

“Compared to 2021, satisfaction levels have been maintained or improved across most services, with very high positivity in some areas, while continuing to match or out-perform national benchmarks.”

“Overall, three-quarters of Council services achieved a satisfaction score of 60% or more, with 12 services achieving 80% satisfaction or higher. It was pleasing to see eight services recorded higher average satisfaction ratings in 2022 compared to last year: public libraries, sewerage, resource recovery, dog and wandering livestock control, RMA resource consents and monitoring, and Building Act consents administration.”

“Only two services recorded a statistically significant decline: sealed roads and Covid-19 recovery.”

“The July 2021 storm and flooding affected many residents, causing slips and road closures around the region. The Council’s roading engineers had advised residents in September 2021 that repairs and restored access to some areas was likely to take up to a year - for example the Kenepuru.”

“It’s important to note that the multiple wet weather events not only did significant damage to the Sounds, Northbank, Waihopai Valley and Awatere Valley roads, they also impacted on the whole network, diverting resources away from Council’s regular road maintenance. That delivered a ‘double whammy’ on people’s satisfaction levels with the roading network.”

However, Mayor Taylor said there were some very high scores in key areas of Council’s work.

“Drinking water, sewerage, sports grounds, swimming pools, parks and reserves, libraries, emergency management, community halls, cemeteries and harbours all scored above 80 per cent satisfaction. Many of these scores are ahead of other councils around New Zealand.”

Resident satisfaction is an important indicator for measuring the public’s perception of Council services. The survey data also shows how satisfaction with one service compares to another and over time demonstrates a longer term trend of how a service is performing, from the perspective of Marlborough residents. Survey data was collected quarterly through the 2021 to 2022 financial year and reported to today’s Economic, Finance and Community committee.

The survey helps measure Council’s performance through targets set in the Long Term Plan and reported in the annual report.

The survey is available at www.marlborough.govt.nz/your-council/long-term-and-annual-plans-policies-and-reports/residents-satisfaction-survey

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