Wānaka councillors have described the results of the first Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) Community Insights Survey as “sombre” and “disappointing”.

The inaugural survey, which was published last week, found significant public dissatisfaction with council leadership and decision-making.

“The obvious takeaway is that the community trust and confidence in QLDC is extremely low and declining,” deputy mayor Quentin Smith told the Wānaka App.

Council and elected members would need to “get real about making some dramatic changes” to reverse the declining trust and confidence in QLDC, he said.

Only 17 percent of residents said they were satisfied or very satisfied with the leadership of the mayor and councillors and the same percentage believed the council made decisions in the best interest of the district. 

Councillor Cody Tucker said the survey report made for “sombre reading - but it’s not unexpected”, and fellow councillor Barry Bruce said while the results were disappointing they “give a clear message we need to improve”.

“Some parts of the survey indicated a good level of satisfaction, in particular community facilities, while environment, trust, leadership, and communication clearly show much room for improvement,” Barry said.

Councillors and QLDC staff discussed the survey at a workshop on Tuesday (June 17).

“...the general consensus was a willingness to take it on the chin, take responsibility for the lack of trust and use this to build initiatives that would help address concerns now that they are more specified and quantifiable,” Cody told the Wānaka App.

Councillors and staff had touched on lots of points during the workshop, including expanding customer satisfaction surveys, councillor Lyal Cocks said.

“Rather than wait for a survey every year or couple of years, we would get feedback on a regular basis so we can make corrections and improve our performance in a timely manner,” Lyal said.

Lyal also emphasised the need to address perceptions around council spending as “the survey showed we’re not getting the message through on where the money is being spent”.

Cody said staff were working with external consultants on how to make customer experience improvements.

Councillors agreed that working on QLDC’s communications with the community was very important.

“Better communication, front-footing issues quickly, and more opportunities for face-to-face engagement rather than formal media releases are important,” Barry said. 

Read the full Community Insights Survey (in the workshop agenda) here.

PHOTOS: Supplied/Wānaka App