Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) has today released the results from its inaugural community trust and satisfaction survey.

The annual Community Insights Survey was conducted in February and March and aimed to provide residents an opportunity to share how they felt about Council’s leadership, governance, communication, engagement, climate and environmental efforts, and facilities.

The independent survey report identified themes the respondents considered could improve resident’s perception of Council. These included: prioritising core services, addressing concerns regarding transparency, equitable investment in facilities across the district, strengthening environmental initiatives, and improving communication and engagement.

Acting Chief Executive Dave Wallace said feedback in the survey reinforced the Council’s understanding of community frustration with significant change in our District in areas of traffic, roading and parking and challenges with public transport. The Council is continuing to work on progressing the work required to sustain unprecedented growth as swiftly as possible with our partners in Waka Kotahi and the Otago Regional Council.

“Collectively and understandably, this reflects in low satisfaction ratings in the survey. QLDC does not hold all the levers, but we must influence and continue to plan for change. How we move forward will be key to a sustainable future.”

“Where we can take some heart is high satisfaction with community facilities. It’s great to see a result like 85% satisfaction with our trails, walkways and cycle ways. Libraries and parks also score highly.”

“We also see some low scores in terms trust and engagement. We have been working hard to build on these perceptions and have built our engagement through multiple forums, district-wide, including moving our workshops into the public domain. We will continue to work to understand how we can shift this sentiment.”

“In general, local government is a challenging environment with reform, change and fiscal challenges, themes that weave throughout the country, but we also know there have been difficult local decisions. I can say we have a dedicated staff, a highly engaged Council, and a huge amount of care to deliver for our communities.”

This information is helping inform Council decision making and direction.

The Community Insights Survey was conducted by Key Research, an independent market research company that covered all aspects of the survey process, including sampling and invitations as well as the collection of responses.

© Scoop Media