2015 Survey

Residents Survey 2015

The Council undertakes an annual residents survey to seek feedback on what residents think of Council services such as water supply, roads, and rubbish and recycling collection.

The survey seeks about 1,000 responses from randomly chosen residents and uses a quota system to ensure participants were representative of the age, gender and population of the Ellesmere, Malvern, Springs and Selwyn Central wards. In the 2015 survey, for the first time, residents were asked about their views on the quality of life in Selwyn district. A large majority of residents, 90%, agreed or strongly agreed that Selwyn is “a great place to live”. That result was largely consistent across all wards and in both rural and township locations. Asked what factors contributed to Selwyn being a great place to live, respondents most often mentioned good atmosphere and environment, good community spirit and friendly people, accessibility to urban services, and good facilities and amenities.

The Council hired the research company Research First to conduct the 2015 survey. A summary of the results of the 2015 Survey is provided below.

In this year’s survey, the proportion of residents who rated the council’s overall performance as good or very good increased over the past year from 58% to 60%.  Waste management remains the highest rated service. Recycling collection was rated good or very good by 94% of residents who receive the service, up from 90% last year to 94%, while 93% of residents who receive rubbish collection rated it good or very good, an increase from 91% last year. Other highly rated services included organic collection (86% rated good/very good), parks and reserves (83%), public libraries (83%), children’s playgrounds (82%), sewerage and wastewater (81%) and public swimming pools (81%) – all of which were rated the same or higher than last year. Lower rated services included rural roads (34%), land drainage networks (36%), maintaining the district’s rural character (41%), making roads and footpaths safer (41%), and water races (42%).

The majority of residents think Selwyn is a great place to live (90%). This was primarily because of the atmosphere and environment of the district, including its rural nature, the open spaces and clean air.		Residents surveyed are very satisfied with community facilities, particularly parks and reserves (83% satisfied, compared to 83% in 2014), public libraries (83% satisfied, compared to 77% in 2013), playgrounds (82% satisfied, compared to 73% in 2013) and swimming pools (81% satisfied, compared to 45% in 2013).		60% Satisfaction with overall performance When asked to rate Council’s overall performance, 60% of residents felt it was good or very good (compared to 58% in 2013). Satisfaction was higher in Selwyn Central (64%) and Springs (63%), and lower in Malvern (56%) and Ellesmere (48%). Just 7% of residents felt performance was poor or very poor.
Each community facility had been used by more than half of residents (except the bus service). Parks and reserves were most popular (used by 78%). Just 2% of residents had not used any community facilities in the past year.		Residents in towns and rural areas have diverging opinions about service levels. Residents who self-identified as living in a rural area tended to be less satisfied with services than their urban counterparts. This was particularly the case for water services.		Residents tended to be less satisfied with land transport services. Footpaths were the highest performing aspect of land transport (59%, compared to 60% in 2014), followed by road safety awareness (56%, compared to 58% in 2014). The least well performing aspect was rural roads, which were identified as good or very good by 34% of residents (compared to 30% in 2014).
Overall, 76% of residents identified that they feel a sense of community with people in their neighbourhood (compared to 68% in 2014). More residents felt this in Malvern (82%) and Ellesmere (78%), while less residents felt this in Selwyn Central (73%) and Springs (74%).
The most positively perceived service was waste management. In particular, 93% of residents who identified that they received the rubbish collection were satisfied (compared to 91% in 2014), and 94% were satisfied with recycling collection (compared to 90% in 2014).   Residents held mixed perceptions of the five water services in Selwyn. Water supplies and sewerage were rated positively (79% satisfied and 81% satisfied, respectively. This is compared to 77% and 69% in 2014). Urban stormwater (50%, 52% in 2013), water races (42%, 40% in 2014), and land drainage (36%, 42% in 2014) were rated less positively.

Overall, 18 of the 26 services surveyed this year received ratings of 50% or higher, with nine rated above 75%. Only eight services recorded ratings below 50%. The table below shows the scores the council received in 2014 and 2015 and shows that the council continues to improve its service to residents.