The latest results of the Queenstown Lakes District Council residents' survey continue to reinforce the Council's positive public position.

"In a climate of growth pressure, it's really pleasing to note that in the opinion of our residents and ratepayers,  the Council, its staff and its performance has continued to track well over the last 12 months ," QLDC human resource manager Rachel Reece said.

The results once again delivered bouquets to Council's staff with an increase in satisfaction of the handling of inquiries 88.6 % and the approachability of staff 95.8 %. The overall satisfaction with the performance of Council and staff was on a par with last year at 84 % (84.3% 2003). The district's libraries continue to stand out with a 98.8 % overall satisfaction level recorded.

Other services that have once again attracted high satisfaction levels include cemetery grounds 96.6%, reliability of water 93.5 % and parks, reserves and gardens 91.5 %. Parking provision recorded the lowest service satisfaction level at 35.7%.

"Parking, particularly for Queenstown has traditionally tracked low. A number of initiatives are now being progressed in this area; in particular the last year has seen intensive work on the parking and transport study, now due for release. This is an area we anticipate will improve in the next 12 months," Ms Reece said.

High achievers in the discretionary service area were recreation and sports grounds 97.1 %, playgrounds 95.8 % and harbourmaster services 92.5 %.

Lower satisfaction was recorded against swimming pools 55.8% and resource management consent 52.3%.

"The survey has unfortunately reflected a decrease in satisfaction with a number of the services offered by our planning and regulatory contractor CivicCorp, which is down in terms of satisfaction in areas including resource management, liquor licensing, noise control and building control," Ms Reece said.

In terms of overall satisfaction, CivicCorp had shown a slight increase, up 1 percent to 69.6 %, Lakes Contract Services gained 4 percent to 81.9%, Imtech gained 2 percent, 73.7%, Lakes Property Services gained 1 percent, 80 % and newcomer Works Infrastructure recorded 67.4 percent satisfaction.

A new element to the survey was strategic planning and community workshops.

"We anticipated that with the recent introduction of the Council Community Plan and community outcomes this area would reflect relatively low satisfaction levels, however we were delighted with the response," Ms Reece said.

The survey recorded that 78 % of respondents were satisfied with the Council Community Plan, although as anticipated actioning of the plan, adopted only two months ago, was low at 49.6 %.

The Council's newly updated website also rated well, with a 91.1% satisfaction level returned.

The priorities for 2004-2005 are very similar to the previous year with car parking 67.8% and a swimming pool 48.9% gaining most importance in the Wakatipu and development, growth and strategic control 38.4 % and road maintenance 32.8% topping the list in the Upper Clutha.

"As always we now face both the challenge of maintaining our high standards and raising the bar in a number of areas," Ms Reece said.

The QLDC Residents' Satisfaction and Opinion Survey 2004 was independently conducted by Advanced Business Research Limited and carries a margin of error of less than 5 percent.

The survey results are available on the Council website www.qldc.govt.nz.

ENDS

For further information please contact Rachel Reece 03 441 0499.

By: Kiri