<strong>The</strong> <strong>Star</strong> Thursday <strong>July</strong> <strong>20</strong> <strong>20</strong>23 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. <strong>The</strong> 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 <strong>20</strong>24–<strong>20</strong>34. “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. <strong>The</strong> 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. <strong>The</strong> 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? <strong>The</strong> 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. <strong>The</strong> time commitment for this study will be about 10 hours and you will attend six clinic visits in total. You will receive up to $2<strong>20</strong> 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 <strong>20</strong>23. 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
Thursday <strong>July</strong> <strong>20</strong> <strong>20</strong>23 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Star</strong> 19
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