Nelson City Council

The results of the annual Council survey of residents are in.

It’s our environment

Our residents are acutely aware of their environment and the part they play in maintaining and protecting it.

Compared with the rest of the country, Nelsonians are way ahead on how much they care and are actively working to preserve our environment.

This year the Council included survey questions which mirrored those in a recent national survey on household sustainability, to get a real snap shot of how Nelson residents feel about their relationship with the environment. The results were very telling.

Nelsonians are not only taking a global approach to their environment but are also proud to stand up and say so.

89% of respondents agree that people have a responsibility to look after the environment for future generations, and 84% disagreed that it would embarrass them if their friends thought their lifestyle was purposefully environmentally friendly.

When asked if ordinary New Zealanders are responsible for taking care of the environment 97% of respondents agreed we are all responsible.

There’s also a groundswell of support for rain collection systems as part of the protection and conservation of our water supplies. 80% of respondents would support Council making it compulsory to install water collection systems on new homes while 88% said they would support Council providing incentives to encourage households to install a rain water collection system on existing homes.

Taking to the streets

While Nelson residents are taking to the streets in increasing numbers both on foot and by bike, public transport is still seen as the part of the transport network that needs the most improvement.

Of those who travel to work, 12% walked or ran compared to a mere 5% last year and 9% biked, compared with 6% in 2009.

The private car is still the most popular way of getting to work, with 65% driving, compared to 70% last year.

Pedal power is on the increase with 42% of respondents saying they cycle, compared with 39% last year.

An increasing number of off road cycle ways are showing up as popular, with 69% of respondents satisfied with them, while 62% are satisfied with the walkways linking roads or suburbs.

As the busy summer season approaches, parking spaces become sought after, but fewer people think it is harder to find a park.

In 2006 41% of respondents said it was harder to park in the central city, which dropped to 34% in 2009. This year that figure dropped again to 27% who thought it was harder to find a park.

In contrast, the lack of public transport still causes concern with 41% either not satisfied or very dissatisfied, compared to 28% satisfied or very satisfied.

Give me a good book and a park to play in

Our residents love their libraries and their parks. The level of residents very satisfied or satisfied with our libraries made up 84%. Coincidentally, this is exactly the same number of our population who are library members.

Compared to the rest of the country, we really do embrace our libraries and all they have to offer. The national average membership per head of population is only 50.2% so our residents are a third up on the rest of the country!

Our swimming pools please 61% while 20% are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied.

Our city’s parks are obviously a magnet for our residents, with four out of every five visiting a park closest to where they live - and that’s not far.

54% of respondents live within five minutes walk of a park and 23% within 6 -10 minutes.  But they would be prepared to beat the pavement to get to a park. The biggest proportion at 32% say they would be happy to walk 11-20 minutes to get there.

Our residents also visit parks a lot – with 31% weekly and 26% monthly. The most common activity is walking, followed by enjoying nature, using the playgrounds and botanical interest. Our residents also love sitting in the gardens, walking their dog, having a picnic and attending events or concerts.

Our parks are important too. When asked if it would matter if the parks were not there, 92% say yes, it would. In the popularity stakes, Queens Gardens came out as the most visited, followed by Isel, Anzac, Miyazu Japanese Garden, Church Hill, Broadgreen and Melrose.

Satisfaction performance and value for money

Nelsonians have shown they love their outdoor spaces and the places they can play in.

Our parks and open spaces are giving the most satisfaction to our residents, with 75% either very satisfied or satisfied with these areas. 73% also gave the thumbs up to our water supply, while 64% are happy with our recreation and leisure facilities and 62% happy with our community facilities.

Transport stood out amongst the activities that yeilded lower levels of satisfaction with 38% of repondents dissatisfied or very dissatisfied.

Some comments from people who are satisfied with Council’s services and facilities

• “They promptly fixed the water main on my road.”
• “Turning on the tap and getting clean water out of it is pretty positive, that’s a major.”
• “The walking to work and walking to school programmes are great.”
• “We have free recycling and the parks and reserves are very good.”
• “When we put in our new wood burner we had no problems with Council.”
• “We are kept well up to date with what is going on through various means.”
• “They have provided trees for us on our street frontage, which has been great.”

Some comments from people who are not satisfied with Council services and facilities

• “I think the way they deal with Resource Consents is unsatisfactory.”
• “I was forced to replace a perfectly good fire .”
• “They fined me for not having a Warrant of Fitness on my car.”
• “The rates are too high – they need to lower them.”
• “It took a long time to get consent for our house.”
• “They don’t appear to do work on infrastructure – there is too much money spent on the arts.”

How do you think Council performed?

The number of people who are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with Council’s overall performance has risen.

This year 45% were satisfied with Council performance, compared to 57% last year, while those not feeling strongly either way rose from 28% in 2009 to 38% this year.

Those dissatisfied rose from 13% to 15%.

Here are some comments from the 45% of people satisfied with Council performance:

• “I do appreciate the services such as water and parks.”
• “I have worked with the Nelson City Council in the past and found them very good.”
• “I like the way they support community groups and charity trusts to help the community at large.”
• “I like the way they have looked after cyclists using the railway reserve.”
• “They promptly fixed the water main on the road.”
• “We live on the edge of a small reserve and the Council let us garden on it with mutual consultation.”
• “They did a great job with the Saxton Stadium.”  

Here are some comments from the 15% of people not satisfied with Council performance:

• “I feel the rates system is all wrong and the average rate payer in Nelson gets a raw deal.”
• “It’s really just the roading and transport debate which has disappointed me.”
• “I have to pay for mowing a lawn which isn’t mine between the footpath and the road.”
• “A lot of road surfaces are uneven and uncomfortable when driving on.”
• “Obtaining a building consent was a hassle – far too much red tape.”
• “I am not happy with them banning the installation of wood burners.”
• “They keep harping on about a Performance Centre when we have a perfectly good theatre, they should give that a go.”

Are you getting bang for your buck?

When it comes to agreement on whether Council services and facilities are good value for money, there has been a shift from those who agree into the group that neither agrees nor disagrees.

Thirty six per cent of respondents fell into each of the above two groups, while 20% think Council services are not good value for money and 9% don’t know.

Of those who agreed Council services are good value, services such as rubbish, water and recycling were behind their reasoning.

Of those who believed their Council services are not good value for money, the main reasons were expensive rates and water rates.

Here are some of the comments made by those who think they get good value for money:

• “I have lived elsewhere and have found Nelson reasonable.”
• “I think [on average] $32 a week is good value for what we get.”
• “They appear to be doing what the community is asking for and they are trying their best with recycling, which I really appreciate.”
• “They’re pretty good. They gave us a rebate on our rates last year I can’t complain about that and I do appreciate it, but I still think the rates are too high.”
• “We do get value for money, the sewerage is working, lighting is there and we get good water. We can see what they are doing.”
• “Compared with other towns, Nelson City Council gives us value for money.”
• “It is expensive to provide those services and we should appreciate them.”

And comments from those who do not think they are getting good value for money:

• “The rubbish collection and water rates are extra costs on top of the rates that are being paid.”
• “It’s not good value for money – the infrastructure for stormwater has been in the ground for many years and they don’t upgrade it. It shouldn’t be much if its not upgraded.”
• “They should control the increase of our rates – when it’s a recession they should tighten their belts too.”
• “I think the private sector could do a much better job.”
• “They waste my money sometimes – for example, library service provide free internet without it being restricted to ratepayers.”
• “The lower income earners just can’t cope with all the rises.”

Facts

• A recent parks benchmarking project run across the whole country rated Nelson City Council rates eighth out of 42 local authorities and government agencies for its parks and reserves.
• Since the introduction of the Nelson Air Quality Plan in 2008 to lower an unacceptable number of breaches of the National Environmental Standards, air quality has improved dramatically. In 2006 there were 75 breaches compared to only eight this winter.
• Following continuing work on the service levels from the Resource Consents team, it achieved 100% compliance of all non-notified Resource Consents and Land Information Memorandums (LIMS) in October, well within the statutory time period. Nelson City Council is one of only a few Councils around the country to achieve this.
• In the last financial year $36 million was spent on infrastructure and $4.3million on culture/heritage and the arts.
• In the last financial year the projected average rates and charges rise was reduced from 8.0% to an average of 3.17%.
• In the latest available comparison of rates and charges, excluding regional rates, Nelson City Council is very close to the national average of rates per capita. The Debt level per capita for Nelson is also around the average for all Councils.
• The collection of rubbish and recycling is part of the service to ratepayers, who then buy either blue bags or stickers as required as a fairer user pays system.
• In the last financial year Council spent $1.7 million on stormwater and flood protection upgrades, including major works at Stanley Crescent and Nayland Road south as well as starting the upgrade of the upper reaches of the Arapiki Stream and the Orphanage Creek culvert and cycleway near Saxton Road. 
• The free internet service available at Public Libraries is a funded by central Government. There is no support from rates.
• In the last financial year Council assisted 1,924 low income ratepayers with rates subsidies worth $971,959. Rates rebates recipients may also qualify for free Clean Heat Warm Homes assistance to replace phased out burners.

The full 2010 Council Survey of Residents is available in all Nelson City Council libraries, the Customer Service Centre for download on this page (to the right).

Sustainability

In looking at trends in the practical steps Nelsonians have taken towards recycling, composting and home gardening, it's pretty clear that Nelsonians love recycling, composting and all things that reduce the impact on our environment.

Putting out a recycling bin is a weekly occurrence for 68% of our residents, which rises to a massive 92% who recycle weekly, fortnightly or monthly. This is an increase of 4% on the 2009 survey. Only 7% never make use of the distinctive blue recycling bins.

The popularity of Council’s free Create Your Own Eden workshops is also reflected in our great composting and gardening results. Our residents are doing more than their bit for sustainability with kitchen and garden waste - 68% compost their food waste and 74% compost their garden waste, a rise of 1% and 2% respectively on last year.

But the longer term trend is spectacular. In 2005 we asked similar questions and only 55% and 52% composted their food and garden waste, respectively. That is a staggering increase of 13% and 22% in the past five years. Nelson can now proudly call itself the composting centre of New Zealand!

And we are not just diligent about food disposal. At the other end of the scale we are also embracing growing our own food. Four out of five respondents (81%) produce some of their own food at home. It appears that the kitchen garden is a very Nelson thing.

Of those taking to the soil, 96% grew their own veges and herbs, 70% had their own fruit trees and 6% of residents had their own hens and eggs.