Waitaki District Council, Residents Survey Topline Results September 2011 Tony Pearce and Damien Cullinan

1. Waitaki District Council, Residents Survey • Topline Results • September 2011 • Tony Pearce and Damien Cullinan

2. How satisfied are you with the footpaths in the Waitaki District? % of respondents Q4

3. If dissatisfied / very dissatisfied … Why is that? Multiple responses allowed % of respondents Other Responses: • Because the small towns aren't so good. • I know a few people who have fallen, my parents are elderly. • I watched someone nearly tip off their mobility scooter going off a curb - it's unsafe. • Mobility scooters have difficulty, there are holes in the footpath. • Because there is too much work all over the place. Some streets are shocking compared to others. Trees have fruit and leaves littering the footpaths. • There are not enough ramps from the curb onto the road for wheelchair accessibility. • There are tree roots in the footpaths and streets. • I do a bit of walking and I work with special needs children. It's quite difficult with wheel chairs. Parts are okay but some aren't. • There are none out at Weston. Children want to walk to school, but there are none to walk on. • I have a baby and am very dissatisfied with the crossings. People don’t stop due to the fact that it’s a double lane highway, giving people a motorway mentality. As a pedestrian, I have a high level of anxiety walking around town. • I tripped on the so called 'mended' footpaths and was injured very badly. Footpaths on the side streets are very bad. • It's very difficult to go around in a wheel chair, patchy and unattractive. • You can slip and hurt yourself a lot. • There's litter everywhere. • It's not that good for older people to walk on. • They are all stones in Palmerston and it's hard to push around a pushchair. Q5

4. How satisfied are you with the local roads in the Waitaki District? % of respondents Q6

5. If dissatisfied / very dissatisfied … Why is that? Multiple responses allowed % of respondents • Other responses: • There's too much roading. We could do more with more policing and more tarseal. • The speed limit is too fast and poor condition. • Speed limit is too high. • The money I pay in rates is not worth it. • It took five days for the grader to get through. • Guttering. • There was no grading on roads when it snowed. • Involved in two roads - part of the road doesn’t get maintained; a dairy farmer spreads effluent on the roads and wrecks them. • Don’t rip up the footpaths before Christmas! In general the roads are shocking. • Needs signs for directions to Kakanui. • There is lots of flooding up the valley and south of Oamaru. Q7

6. How satisfied are you with the cycleways in the Waitaki District? * Those respondents living in Waitaki for more than 10 years were more likely to be Satisfied or Very satisfied with cycle ways (38% compared to 27%). % of respondents Q8

7. If dissatisfied / very dissatisfied … Why is that? Multiple responses allowed % of respondents • Other responses: • Need lighting. • Should have designated cycleways on the main road, between parked and driving cars. • Sometimes there are cyclists on the wrong sides of the roads. • Don’t have a problem, as a driver and I am very supportive of the cycle road that will go through the Waitaki. • Not good on highways. • There are problems with people parking on cycleways. • They encroach too much on vehicle access. Q9

8. How satisfied are you with the availability and convenience of parking within the Oamaru central business area? % of respondents Q10

9. If dissatisfied / very satisfied … Why is that? Multiple responses allowed % of respondents Other responses: • I don’t go that often into town. (2) • It's good, apart from when it's busy. • Even parking spaces. • Would like to see a time limit on disabled parks. • Parking at the hospital isn't overly flash. • The trees in the middle need to be removed to create more parks. • We go to the pool quite a bit, a lot of the parking around here is for council, and you can hardly get a park behind the Roost Café as its permanent parking only. It gets frustrating if you have little kids. • They have taken car parks away when putting the traffic lights in. Q11

10. How satisfied are you with recycling? * Respondents aged under 60 years were more likely to be Dissatisfied or Very dissatisfied with recycling. % of respondents Q12

11. If dissatisfied / very dissatisfied … Why is that? (I) Multiple responses allowed % of respondents 13

12. If dissatisfied / very dissatisfied … Why is that? (II) Other responses: • Can't recycle things that are normally recyclable. • Dump hours are not open long enough, too restricted and too expensive. • Free would be better, like Timaru's 321 different coloured bins for pick up. More people would recycle if this happened. • Garden waste has to be taken to the centre and has to be paid for. They then process and sell it. • Goes to the landfill. • Have to travel to take it to town. • I find this information very confusing. This service should be free if they are wanting to divert people to recycling. Why should we have to pay? • I live in the country and it is not so good. • I think it’s a good thing. • I'm not satisfied with the hours that the dump is open. • It is manned for only go for six hours a week so I cannot drop off recycling whenever I want, it has controlled access. • It needs to be compulsory. • It's only open once and you only get one bin. • It's very expensive - the price of garden waste compared to the other tip. • Not available for us, it used to be useful but now we have to travel into town. • Not enough people recycling. It should be less complicated so more people are willing to do it. • Not enough space to recycle. Bins are too small. • Nothing is provided in the rural area. • Roadside needs to be more frequent. • Some form of recycling needs to be closer to the rural areas. • The centre is fine. Council is indecisive. • The Council didn’t take the system on, but gave the responsibility the public. If they had done the recycling everyone would be doing it. • The hours are not good. • The staff are rude at recycling centre. • They are talking about cutting back the hours or shutting it altogether. • They could promote it a lot better. • They haven't made it compulsory. • Very poor situations with staff. • Wants different coloured bins, like Dunedin. • We don’t have anywhere to put our recycling. We have travel into town or else pay for someone to collect it. • We get charged for green waste. Q13

13. Which water supply are you connected to? % of respondents Q14

14. How satisfied are you with the water supply provided by the Waitaki District Council? % of respondents Q15

15. If dissatisfied / very dissatisfied … Why is that? Multiple responses allowed % of respondents = small base size • Other responses: • Normally water supply is for free. • It's polluted from dairy farms. Council has disregarded claims and claim that it is caused by septic tanks. They only fine the farmers for polluting and don’t ensure that they don’t pollute again. • It has a lot of chlorine. • It should be metered, like electricity is. • Must always have a filter installed. • Too expensive. • Pipelines are old. When we get the new water system it will be good. Q16

16. How satisfied are you with the way Council has consulted with you over the past 12 months? *Respondents aged 18 to 39 were more likely to be Satisfied or Very satisfied with the way the Council has consulted with them (57%). % of respondents Q17

17. If dissatisfied / very dissatisfied … Why is that? (I) Multiple responses allowed % of respondents Q18

18. If Not very satisfied … Why is that? (II) • Other responses: • A new building next door built culverts and floods our house every time it rains. No communication. Hard to do anything. • Could be doing more for South Hill. It's disgraceful; grass verge put down in ivy or something easy care. Rates are too high. There's a huge tree outside my house which causes me a lot of problems. • Disappointed with the Penguin Colony, there's no people looking after the penguins. All the money goes into lighting. • Everything seems to be done on paper but never actually done. • Green areas not looked after, only mowed twice a year. • Have been building a house and the feedback from council has been was very dissatisfying. Information has been lost, and you have to basically go through a quiz before they let you talk to the person you need to talk to. • I find the information in the letter box is not very well presented and it does not make me want to read it. • Lack of information. • Meetings start late. • Promise broken regarding a fence - pothole caused trouble. Payments haven't been made. • Rates went up by $75 without consultation or warning. • Roadworks on Main Street and now bridge on Humber Street, it seems to take forever and is annoying. • The Council is not interested in what the ratepayers think. They are appalling. • There was a boiled water restriction and we were never informed. • They are hard to get hold of and don’t reply. • They are not truthful. Not working within the scheduled times given to the public. • They don’t keep in touch. • They don’t listen to what we say. It feels like Kurow is ignored. • They ignore the problems and are unresponsive. • When information is sent out, they slant it in a way that they feel they will get the most positive feedback. • When they go to do repairs to roads or things like that they take twice as long to complete than what they advise you in the first place. • Wrote a letter to complain but it has been ignored. Q18

19. How satisfied are you with the Waitaki Link as a useful source of information? * Those respondents living in Waitaki for more than 10 years were more likely to be Satisfied or Very satisfied with the Waitaki Link (67% compared to 53% for less than 10 years). % of respondents Q19

20. If dissatisfied / very dissatisfied … Why is that? Multiple responses allowed % of respondents *A larger proportion of those respondents who have lived in Waitaki for 10 years or less were unaware of the Waitaki Link (29% compared with 16%). Other Responses: • A waste of time, it doesn't say anything useful. • I don’t see the point. • I want to receive it. • It's become more of a propaganda tool than an information tool. • Little information. • Method of delivery and information in it is substandard. • Never used. • Not available enough and quality is decreasing. • They don’t tell people enough. Q20

21. Would you like to see the Council spend ‘more’, ‘less’ or about the ‘same’ on the following activities and assets? (I) - Community Facilities Q21 % of respondents

22. Would you like to see the Council spend ‘more’, ‘less’ or about the ‘same’ on the following activities and assets? (II) - Community Facilities * Respondents in the 18 to 39 age group were most likely to want the Council to spend more on Parks and reserves (45%) and the respondents in the 60+ group were least likely (21%). * Respondents in the 18 to 39 age group were around twice as likely as the 60+ age group to want the Council to spend more on the Aquatic centre (24% compared with 11%). Q21 % of respondents

23. Would you like to see the Council spend ‘more’, ‘less’ or about the ‘same’ on the following activities and assets? (III) – Investment is Infrastructure * Respondents in Waihemo Ward were most likely to see the Council spend more on Water (34%) * Respondents in Ahuriri Ward were more likely to see the Council spend less on Parking (22%). Q21 % of respondents

24. Would you like to see the Council spend ‘more’, ‘less’ or about the ‘same’ on the following activities and assets? (IV) – Investment is Infrastructure * Respondents in Ahuriri Ward were least likely to see the Council spend more on Footpaths * Respondents aged under 60 were more than twice as likely to want the council to spend more on Cycleways. Q21 % of respondents

25. Would you like to see the Council spend ‘more’, ‘less’ or about the ‘same’ on the following activities and assets? (V) – Growing the Economy * Respondents aged 60 or over were least likely to want the Council to spend more on refuse disposal (25%). % of respondents Q21

26. Would you like to see the Council spend ‘more’, ‘less’ or about the ‘same’ on the following activities and assets? (VI) – Other * Respondents in Ahuriri Ward were more likely to see the Council spend less on Dog Control (22%) * Respondents in Waihemo Ward were more likely to see the Council spend more on Civil Defence and Rural Fire Services (53%). % of respondents Q21

27. How satisfied are you with Dog Control services over the past 12 months? % of respondents Q22

28. If dissatisfied / very dissatisfied … Why is that? = small base size Other responses: • Dogs shouldn’t be in town, they should be in the country. • Often see dogs in unauthorised areas. • Ranger should have more power to seize dogs. Ranger can't apprehend wandering dogs. • Too slow to come out. Multiple responses allowed % of respondents Q23

29. Have you contacted Council regarding Civil Defence or Rural Fire Service in the past 12 months? % of respondents Q24

30. If yes … How satisfied are you with the Civil Defence and Rural Fire Services provided by the Council over the past 12 months? % of respondents Q25

31. If dissatisfied / very dissatisfied … Why is that? Multiple responses allowed % of respondents = small base size Other responses: • Alarm too loud - should be using beepers and cell phones. • Had to pay toll calls, took a very long time, also wasted time. • Misunderstanding. • Rural fire out of control. • They are making a drama before it happens. Back to basics - put signs out earlier. • They should be higher above sea level then they have proposed. Q26

32. Have you used or visited any parks or reserves in the past 12 months? * Respondents in the 18 to 39 age group were most likely to have visited parks and reserves in the past 12 months (91%). * Respondents in Waihemo and Ahuriri Wards were least likely to have visited a park or reserve in the past 12 months (40% and 38%). % of respondents Q27

33. If yes . . . How satisfied are you with parks and reserves over the past 12 months? % of respondents Q28

34. If dissatisfied / very dissatisfied … Why is that? Multiple responses allowed % of respondents = small base size Other responses: • There aren't as many as there should be in the town. Not enough playgrounds. Need better toilets and sunshades over the pools. • Awamoa Park needs to be mowed. • Expected to see the plants flowering, but there was not much flowers. • Grass is left to grow too long before mowing. • More mowing needed. • More play gear. • Need more seating for all the people. • Needs to be mowed. • Palmerston needs more attention. • The walks are not very good, too short and not interesting. Not enough of them or information. • Toilet facilities should be better. • Too many prickles and they are rough. • Western Park. Q29

35. Have you used or visited any public toilets in the past 12 months? % of respondents Q30

36. If yes . . . How satisfied are you with public toilets over the past 12 months? * Respondents in Waihemo (78%) and Ahuriri (85%) Wards were more likely to be Satisfied / Very satisfied with Public toilets. % of respondents Q31

37. If dissatisfied / very dissatisfied … Why is that? Multiple responses allowed % of respondents Other responses: • Need more signage. (2) • Dirty and we need more. • Disgusting, not very hygienic. • Dissatisfied with the amount of public toilets in rural areas. Would like to see more in rural areas and less in town. • Embarrassing for tourism, it’s disgusting. • Inconsistencies with cleaning. • It depends where you go. • Lighting. • Need better hygienic facilities for washing hands. • Need more toilet paper. • Need to provide for the elderly. • Not enough. • Some need upgrading. • The police station toilets are untidy. • There needs to be rural public toilets. • They don't have toilet paper. • They need to keep them maintain, clean and painted. • Too few. Q32

38. How satisfied are you with playgrounds over the past 12 months? % of respondents Q33

39. If dissatisfied / very dissatisfied … Why is that? Multiple responses allowed = small base size % of respondents Other responses: • More safety checks. • Bring back the elephant! • They took away the elephant. • They have taken so much away, they take away things hazardous like the elephant. Q34

40. How satisfied have you been with the Aquatic Centre over the past 12 months? % of respondents Q35

41. If dissatisfied / very dissatisfied … Why is that? Multiple responses allowed = small base size % of respondents Other responses: • It's a money drain, doesn’t make its own way. It lacks something else, more thought should've been put in. • It's too stuffy, needs more ventilation. • Needs upgrading. • Should be better seating and water quality. • Stuffy and not a big enough area. • There's a problem with the ventilation. • Too many lessons taking up the pool. Q36

42. Have you used or visited the Forrester Gallery in the past 12 months? % of respondents Q37

43. If yes . . . How satisfied are you with the Forrester Gallery over the past 12 months? % of respondents Q38

44. If dissatisfied / very dissatisfied … Why is that? = small base size Multiple responses allowed % of respondents Other responses: • Am satisfied with the exhibitions. The work is brilliant, but would like to see a list and extension for storage, exhibition space and teaching. • Could not see an elevator to get to the second floor. I could not gain attention of reception, cannot get a pram up the second floor. • Dark and uninviting. • Didn't really like it. • Exhibits are great, but a lift is needed in the building. • Needs an elevator. • Not enough exhibits. • People can view both levels and so staff can access more easily. Q39

45. Have you used or visited the North Otago Museum in the past 12 months? % of respondents Q40

46. If yes . . . How satisfied are you with the North Otago Museum over the past 12 months? % of respondents Q41

47. If dissatisfied / very dissatisfied … Why is that? Multiple responses allowed = small base size % of respondents Other responses: • A bit out dated. • Bigger archives and longer opening time. • Exhibits are poor. • Needs a bigger area and upgraded. • Needs a bigger area so more exhibits can be put up. • Needs improving in all areas. • Not enough exhibits, quite a large part is taken up by steam punk exhibits, which would suit the gallery more. • Very archaic and a very poor display method. Q42

48. Have you used or visited the Oamaru Library in the past 12 months? * Respondents in Waihemo Ward were least likely to have visited the Omaru Library in the past 12 months (48% ). % of respondents Q43

49. If yes . . . How satisfied are you with the OamaruLibrary over the past 12 months? % of respondents Q44

50. If dissatisfied / very dissatisfied … Why is that? Multiple responses allowed % of respondents = small base size Other responses: • Books are all out of date. • Hard to find things. • Libraries are for books. • More current children's books available, for seven to nine year olds. • Old and run down. • Opening hours. • Poor layout. Children's space under used. Not enough computers. • The new system is to confusing. • We are required to pay for good books. • Would like to see more done with the space and how it interacts with the community. Q45