Residents' Opinion Survey 2009

4,500 surveys will be sent out in the post over the next two days. In addition, residents who do not receive a paper copy of the survey can complete the survey online.

All of the surveys need to be completed on Friday, 29 May, and then they will be analysed by Research First, an independent research company based in Christchurch.

The results will be available to the general public in early July 2009. All the results will be displayed on the Council website.

It is anticipated that results will show improvement in water quality and taste, and in waste services, as the Council has been engaged in substantial work improving service in both areas.

Purpose of the survey

One way the Council gauges the views of the "silent majority" is through the annual Residents' Opinion Survey, or ROS. The Council has been undertaking the ROS since 1994 and by giving expression to all sectors and areas of the community it has become a valuable tool for guiding its decision-making process and prioritising expenditure.

The ROS survey focuses on service delivery and effectiveness, and asks questions about people's perceptions of the Council's performance.

The ROS survey is also a crucial part of the Council's performance monitoring. Most DCC departments have customer service and other performance targets in their activity management plans which they are required to meet every year. A lot of the set targets come from the ROS survey results.

In addition, there are also quality measures in the Community Plan which emanate from the ROS results.

Changes made as a result of survey

Not only do the ROS results help the Council measure its performance, but the results also show us areas where we can make further improvements.

For example, the 2008 ROS showed an increasing level of dissatisfaction with the amount of dog fouling around the city. In an attempt to address this problem, Animal Control are now taking a zero tolerance approach to dog owners who fail to clean up after their dog.

The 2008 results also showed us that "food hygiene" in the commercial preparation of food was an important issue for people, so unlike a number of other Councils, we now rate every food premise in the city and enforce the public display of the DCC Environmental Health grading of their premises. We also include this information on our website so residents and visitors can find out the grade of city food outlets online.

Another change made as result of ROS is the Cycling Strategy. ROS results showed residents' satisfaction with the suitability of the road network for cyclists was decreasing. This information led to the drafting of a new Cycling Strategy which, when adopted by the Council later this year, will ensure a more focussed approach in the provision of cycle lanes and paths, and the new Strategy should be adopted this year.

Contact details

Contact Tami Beckingsale (DCC) and Carl Davidson (Research First) on 477 4000 or Carl on 0508 4 RESEARCH.

Last reviewed: 08 May 2009 9:49am