Rotorua people happy with mayor and council

Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick and her councillors are fulfilling their promise to take people with them on a journey - and residents appear to be enjoying the ride, according to an independent survey.

A National Research Bureau survey held in April and May showed 61 per cent of 400 Rotorua residents contacted by phone rated the mayor's and councillors' performance so far as "fairly good to very good".

That's an increase of 21 per cent from last year when less than half - 40 per cent - of residents surveyed approved of the mayor and the council's performance.

Fewer residents - 7 per cent - rated the council's performance as "poor to very poor", down from 13 per cent last year.

A large proportion (72 per cent) of residents approved of the way rates were spent while 22 per cent were dissatisfied.

Mrs Chadwick said the survey provided a good barometer of public opinion and it was pleasing perceptions had increased so soon after the local body election.

She said it was a reflection of hard work by councillors over the past nine months, and an increase in community engagement.

"We're certainly now doing things differently from the past and we're trying hard to fulfil our promise to take people with us on our journey.

"Taking our proposals out on the streets to talk to the community about our Rotorua 2030 vision, goals and priorities was very well received by people," she said.

"For many councillors it was a chance to hear residents' views first hand, and for locals it was an opportunity to talk one-on-one to their mayor and councillors, and to tell us what they wanted Rotorua to look like in the future."

Ms Chadwick said she believed people knew the council was listening and were an integral part of their decision-making processes.

Council staff also got the big tick with 62 per cent of residents surveyed rating performance as "fairly good to good".

The survey also asked residents what they thought of council decisions and actions in the past year.

The results were a substantial improvement from 2013 with 70 per cent approving of recent council decisions and actions compared with 53 per cent last year.

A large proportion - 85 per cent - of residents surveyed felt they had had some influence on decisions that the council had made.

The biggest increase came in city parking which jumped from 68 per cent last year to 83 per cent approval.

Full survey results will be available on the Rotorua District Council website from August 8.