Council plans forum to improve satisfaction rating

In a bid to overturn a scathing approval rating, Christchurch City Council is making moves to create a new residents’ forum.

The council wants people to feel they are being listened to, their views respected and more people to trust the council’s decision-making process.

In May, the council released its annual residents’ survey, showing just half of the city’s residents were satisfied with the services it provided – down from 62 per cent last year.

Some 23 per cent of respondents were dissatisfied with council’s performance and 27 per cent were neutral. It is the lowest result since 2007, when the question was first asked as part of the survey.

At the time, council chief executive Dawn Baxendale said the result was sobering and it was clear changes needed to be made. A report to be discussed by the council on Thursday recommends the council establish a residents’ forum so it can better understand their viewpoint.

It says it wants more people to be involved in decision-making and to understand the process.

‘‘People are telling us they question the transparency of council decision-making, that staff and/or councillors have their own agendas and are ignoring residents’ wishes,’’ the report says. People report feeling there is no point engaging when the council doesn’t listen, it says.

During the first phase of the programme, council staff will establish an online people’s panel and run workshops with harder-to-reach audiences.

The second phase will involve creating a residents’ forum, with between 30 and 50 people, to deliberate on the findings of the first phase and come to some conclusions.

The forum is expected to cost between $10,000 and $15,000. The report says the forum could evolve into an ongoing focus group.

Council sustainability and community resilience committee chairwoman Cr Sara Templeton said the council wanted people to be well-informed, and to feel they could participate and contribute to decisions.