More than 700 Carterton community members have had their say in the recent Carterton District Council Community Survey.
Performance scores and ideas were submitted on the full range of council services, from kerbside recycling through to water supply, library services and events.
Combining state-of-the-art technology with a commitment to local voice, the ‘open’ style survey ran from 22 February to 16 March and saw wide participation across all age groups and town areas.
In addition to encouraging all members of our community to take part, this year Council also introduced an innovative dashboard platform that integrated artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse thousands of individual comments, trends, and performance scores.
Fully compliant with privacy standards, the platform provided Council staff instant access to insights across key areas such as facilities, water, safety, governance, and belonging.
Hon. Ron Mark, Mayor of Carterton, asked the community to share what they really, really want, and he said his neighbours have delivered.
“Residents told us what they like, what they don’t like, and what matters most to them and their families. We’re listening, and this feedback is already being used to inform our work programmes and decision-making.”
“Having the survey open to everyone has helped in engagement and provided a greater scope in opinions and feedback. In previous years, data has been collected via a demographic sample taken from the electoral role.”
High participation levels across demographic groups showed that residents care deeply about their community’s direction, with scores clearly indicating where the community is satisfied, and where they would like to see improvements.
Carterton Library received a ‘high satisfaction’ score of 86%, with residents very complimentary of staff and calling the library “a friendly and helpful community hub.” Both kerbside recycling collection and open spaces and parks received ‘high satisfaction’ scores of 80%.
The look and feel of the town centre, and land use and subdivisions are viewed less positively, assigned ‘high satisfaction’ scores of 38% and 36%, respectively.
Geoff Hamilton, Carterton District Council Chief Executive, said CDC will use these insights to update its service planning and track progress against key measures over time.
“These survey results feed directly into the Council’s performance reporting for the Annual Report and the next Long-Term Plan (LTP), aligning community expectations with council accountability,” Mr Hamilton said.
“The use of AI dashboards has significantly improved and sped up how CDC understands and communicates survey results.
“But it’s not just about a score – it’s about hearing what people really think and delivering tangible results. This is new methodology for CDC in terms of survey delivery and results analysis, and while this year’s results do provide some continuation of surveys in the past, this open survey approach sets new benchmarks for us moving forward.”
Elected representatives will be asked to receive a report on the agenda and consider returning to an annual survey in the Ordinary Council Meeting on [Wednesday 14 May].