Trust in leaders down, but some services better

Christchurch residents don’t trust council’s leadership and value for money like they used to, but satisfaction in some council services has soared.

An annual residents survey – commissioned by the Christchurch City Council and released yesterday afternoon – captured the mood of people in January, who may have had anything from the abrupt departure of council’s chief executive officer Dawn Baxendale in November, to the anticipated double-digit rates rise on their minds.

Residents were asked if they felt satisfied, dissatisfied, or neutral about a number of matters, from the services council offered like libraries and parks, to the accountability of their elected members.

Only 26.5% of residents are satisfied with the leadership of the mayor and councillors – a decline of about 3% from the year prior.

Trust in council overall remained about the same – now 27.7% – but residents think its reputation has worsened by about 4%, with 44.1% of residents now dissatisfied.

Some 57.8% of people don’t think council makes wise spending decisions – an increase of 4% – but the number of satisfied people remains the same, at 15.6%.

There is a slight increase in residents – 0.9% – who feel council acts with integrity and honesty, but the number of people who disagree rose almost 4% to 32%.

As many as 74% of residents feel they have no or only a small influence on council decision-making.

However, the results of the annual residents survey is at times contradictory, as it combines both the in-depth January survey of 771 residents with the 9014 surveys completed by those actively using a council service throughout 2023.

Some 57.8% of residents don’t think council provides good value for money – a 10% increase on last year. Yet, for service users there were satisfaction increases across the board.

Over 85% of people were satisfied with 44% of all council services across 2023. The year prior, only 28% of all services received that many positive responses.

Most notably was the 15% improvement in satisfaction of council’s resource consent process, now rating 86%.

People were 100% satisfied with council’s education programmes, and 99% satisfied with the Botanic Gardens and Mona Vale. Satisfaction with the inner city parks’ presentation rose 8% to 85% satisfied.

Community facilities and the reliability of water supply each received an 84% satisfaction rating.

The January survey broke down residents’ satisfaction with council by age, ethnicity and community board area.

The happiest residents are young, Asian, and/or live in Banks Peninsula.

Pensioners, people of European descent, and/or Fendalton-Waimairi-Harewood residents are most dissatisfied.

Waste management was the best rated council service, with 20% of people saying it was their favourite. 15% said parks, reserves and green spaces were the best, and 8% thought the libraries were.

Roading was by far the one service residents wanted improvement on, at 23%. Next was better council decision-making/ financial management at 8% and water supply at 7%.

Overall, the satisfaction surveys showed that 46% of people are satisfied with the council, an increase on last year by 3%.

In a public statement, Mary Richardson, council’s interim CEO, said the survey results “demonstrate the difficult decisions the council has to make given the, at times, conflicting resident perceptions and priorities.”

She said dissatisfaction was highest in areas that cost the most to address, but council was facing major budget challenges, and residents were telling them to keep rates low.

Mayor Phil Mauger was unavailable for comment.

The results of the annual residents survey is at times contradictory, as it combines both the in-depth January survey of 771 residents with the 9014 surveys completed by those actively using a council service throughout 2023.