The Star: July 20, 2023

The Star Thursday July 20 2023
18
SPONSORED CONTENT
New city council campaign ahead of
Long Term Plan asks: What Matters Most?
WHAT MATTERS Most? Our
next Long Term Plan, that’s
what!
Finding out what matters most
to Christchurch residents about
their city is the focus of a new
campaign from the city council.
The What Matters Most?
campaign will be running until
August 13, and city council
staff will be out and about in
the community, popping up
at markets and events, public
meetings and forums.
With challenging issues
and decisions on the horizon,
they’ll be finding out what the
community’s real priorities are
ahead of the city council’s Long
Term Plan 2024–2034.
“It’s the council’s responsibility
to deliver the core services that
keep Christchurch and Banks
Peninsula ticking,” says city
council chief executive Dawn
Baxendale.
“Everyone in the city has
different priorities, and this
exercise will help us see where
each of our core services rank
in the discussion, as we prepare
to allocate our resources for the
next 10 years.”
Keep an eye open online for
new digital tools that let you
share your views in a way that’s
interactive, accessible and easy
to use. For those who like a more
hands-on approach, look in your
local library or service centre for
rotating voting boxes that let you
show your support for different
priorities by placing a vote with
a token.
What Matters Most? is
taking a ‘back to basics’ handson
approach to gathering
people’s voices, combined with
innovative digital tools.
“We want to hear from as wide
a range of viewpoints as possible.
The information and feedback
people provide is so important
for us both as an organisation
and a community because it
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
will be used to inform the draft
Long Term Plan,” Baxendale
says.
The Long Term Plan sets out
what the city council will build,
maintain and service as a city
over the next 10 years, and how
we will pay for it.
“Our staff will be out and
about in the community. We
have an increasingly diverse
community here in Christchurch
– it’s becoming the city of choice
for many, so we’re looking to
engage in innovative new ways
to tap into that range of voices,”
Baxendale says.
LOOKING FORWARD: Finding out what matters most to
Christchurch residents about their city is the focus of a new
campaign from the city council.
How can you provide feedback?
• Visit our new online
platform at ccc.govt.nz/
WhatMattersMost and
allocate points to different
priorities, take part in
discussion forums and
complete our quick polls.
• Keep an eye out at your
local market, events, library
or service centre – our interactive
voting boxes will
be moving around the city
throughout the campaign.
Ask staff for a set of tokens,
and pop them into the
boxes that match up with
your priorities.
• For those who prefer pen
and paper, use our worksheet
to allocate points to what
matters most to you. Ask
staff at libraries and services
centres for a worksheet, or
download it from ccc.govt.nz/
WhatMattersMost
• Talk to someone on
our Engagement team via
letstalk@ccc.govt.nz or 03
941 8999.
• Contact your local
community board – your
elected members are there
to act as your voice at the
council table.
Feeling bloated
or have a sore stomach?
The Soothe Study is recruiting now.
We are looking for people with functional dyspepsia (indigestion) to
participate in a research study investigating the digestive health effects
of consuming mānuka honey.
Symptoms of functional dyspepsia include:
• pain or burning in the stomach, bloating, excessive belching (burping)
or nausea after meals
• an early feeling of fullness when eating
• pain in the stomach that may sometimes occur unrelated to meals or
may be relieved by eating.
Calling all creatives
Fund your creative project with the
Creative Communities Scheme
After a two-week lead-in period, we will provide you with mānuka honey
or a honey-like product to eat before breakfast and dinner every day for
six-weeks. Two weeks later we will again ask you about your functional
dyspepsia symptoms.
The time commitment for this study will be about 10 hours and you will
attend six clinic visits in total. You will receive up to $220 in supermarket
vouchers in recognition of the actual or reasonable costs associated with
participating in this study (e.g., parking and/or travel costs).
If you experience symptoms of functional dyspepsia, and are aged
18 to 70 years we would love to hear from you.
Applications open until 25 August 2023.
Apply now at:
ccc.govt.nz/CreativeScheme
Department of Human Nutrition
Laura Ombasa | PhD student
soothestudy@otago.ac.nz | Tel 021 279 0140
To complete a screening survey go to: bit.ly/SOOTHEstudy
This project has been reviewed and approved by the University of Otago
Human Ethics Committee (Health). Reference: H22/067