Council work earns pats on back

Lake Tutira. Photo / Duncan Brown

The Hawke's Bay Regional Council this week heard the results of a region-wide resident survey ranking it highly - for the quality of its service delivery, the importance of its work and the level of community engagement.

The council conducted an independent phone survey during April to get an understanding of the general awareness of work it carried out, satisfaction levels, and how HBRC was performing in specific areas, such as emergency management, HeatSmart and regional parks.

Chairman Fenton Wilson said he was pleased with the result, which showed that HBRC was valued for the quality of its work.

"What I find really heartening is how highly the residents of Hawke's Bay rated the importance of the work HBRC does," he said.

"For every service we provide, the 2015 response level was 4 per cent to 15 per cent higher than in 2013."

Ninety-five per cent of the residents surveyed said they cared about the environment, and when asked which main organisation they thought of regarding the environment in Hawke's Bay, more than half mentioned the council.

The survey showed HBRC's work developing and maintaining regional parks and wetlands in Hawke's Bay was highly valued, as was the flood protection and drainage work carried out.

Residents indicated support to maintain and develop the existing regional park network, rather than establish new ones, for now.

There was high awareness of the parks and wetlands that HBRC managed, with Tutira Regional Park being the most well-known, closely followed by Pekapeka Regional Park and Hawke's Bay Trails.

Residents throughout the region highlighted their favourite recreational water spots, including Ocean Beach, the Tukituki River, the Wairoa River and Westshore Beach.

Other sections of the survey covered HBRC's HeatSmart programme, civil defence emergency preparedness and spending on rates.

The survey results can be found by visiting hbrc.govt.nz - keyword search: survey.