The Star: September 13, 2018

6 Thursday September 13 2018
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
The Star
News
Residents unhappy with decision-making
• By Ashleigh Monk
A SECOND survey has found
just 36 per cent of Christchurch
residents have confidence in the
city council’s decision-making
abilities.
About 500 residents were
questioned for the nationwide
Quality of Life Survey, which
examined the
well-being of
their residents.
The survey
showed a drop
from 47 per
cent in 2016
of people who
Garry
Moore
thought the city
council did not
make decisions
in the best interest of residents.
It comes after a similarly
low result in the city council’s
own Residents’ Survey earlier
this year, which found 28 per
cent were happy with decisionmaking.
“The same result came through
in our residents’ survey and this
is something we’re focusing on,”
Mayor Lianne Dalziel said in a
city council statement.
When approached by The Star
for further comment yesterday,
a spokeswoman for Ms Dalziel
said she was in meetings and
could not respond.
Former mayor Garry Moore
said elected representatives
needed to ensure their decisions
were supported by
residents.
“This needs to happen
urgently. This will
make them reject the
advice from the executive
from time to time,”
he said.
“They could start on
Thursday by declining
to accept the advice of the staff
Gerry Brownlee
on using $220m of the Government’s
$300m on a stadium.
They should spend this on
roads.”
Ilam MP Gerry
Brownlee said he was
“not surprised” by the
result.
“You look at some of
the things they’ve had
to make decisions on or
that they should have
made decisions on and
they just appear not to
have done so,” he said.
PROCESS:
A survey of
residents’
well-being
has revealed
36 per cent of
respondents
have
confidence
in the city
council’s
ability to make
decisions.
“I think that recent outburst
where David East has highlighted
that the offices at council
appear to have more support
from the activities from the
mayor than the councillors . . .
David East is elected to represent
people and when he’s going
about his representative activities
he’s suddenly being hauled into
line by the council bureaucracy.”
Councillor Aaron Keown
said he thought the city council
“wasn’t listening to residents.”
“My fundamental core belief
as a councillor is asking ‘is it our
role to facilitate the way people
want to live their lives? Or is it
our role to dictate to people the
way we think they should live
their lives?’
I have to operate in a council
that is in the latter and I operate
in the former.”
Minister for Greater Christchurch
Regeneration Megan
Woods declined to comment. A
spokesman for Dr Woods said it
was “an issue for the council.”
Other results from the survey
found 73 per cent said Christchurch
was a great place to live, 57
per cent said housing costs were
affordable, 86 per cent found
their house was suitable for their
needs and 68 per cent said their
house didn’t have a problem with
damp or mould. Seventeen per
cent felt stressed most or all of
the time in the last 12 months,
and 43 per cent said they felt safe
in the central city after dark –
lower than the national average
of 48 per cent. However, the
figure was better than in 2016,
when 31 per cent said they felt
safe in the central city after dark.
Seventy-eight per cent said
dangerous driving was a problem
in the last year and 71 per cent
viewed begging on the streets as
an issue.
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