Queenstown Lakes District Council’s (QLDC) inaugural Community Insights Survey indicates that just 17 percent of residents are satisfied or very satisfied with the leadership of the mayor and councillors.

Also, just 17 percent believe the council makes decisions that are in the best interest of the district and only 26 percent are happy with QLDC’s core service deliverables.

Common concerns included roadwork disruptions, underinvestment in critical infrastructure such as sewerage systems, and frustration over spending priorities, according to the survey.

While trust in council and its infrastructure delivery ranked low, a bright spot in the survey was residents’ satisfaction with community facilities.

Seventy-nine percent were satisfied or very satisfied with the range of community facilities, with parks, reserves and gardens (79 percent), trails, walkways and cycleways (85 percent), sports grounds (72 percent) and playgrounds (68 percent) receiving high satisfaction results.

Residents are satisfied with community facilities, according to the survey results. PHOTO: Wānaka App

Residents’ satisfaction with QLDC’s environmental efforts fell somewhere in the middle of the above two categories, but leaned low.

Close to four in ten residents (36 percent) were satisfied with the steps council is taking to help protect and restore biodiversity.

A lower 29 percent were satisfied or very satisfied with the council’s efforts to protect the environment and the same number were positive about efforts to reduce the district’s waste landfill.

In this category, respondents’ concerns included poor waste and recycling management, lack of visible environmental action, and sewerage issues and discharge into waterways.

QLDC active chief executive Dave Wallace said the council understood there was community frustration over significant changes in the district and “collectively and understandably, this reflects in low satisfaction ratings in the survey”.

“We also see some low scores in terms [of] 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.”

He said the council can take “some heart” from the satisfaction with council facilities.

“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,” Dave said. 

“I can say we have a dedicated staff, a highly engaged council, and a huge amount of care to deliver for our communities.”

QLDC councillors will discuss the survey results at a workshop on June 17.

Dave said the survey results will help inform council decision making and direction and the survey will run annually.

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The Community Insights Survey was conducted in February and March 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.

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