Residents' satisfaction with Ashburton District Council’s overall performance continues to increase, rising from 66 per cent in 2022 to 67 per cent in 2023, and now reaching 70 per cent in 2024.

This increase is likely due to a jump in satisfaction among rural residents, from 59 per cent in 2023 to 71 per cent in 2024.

Chief Executive Hamish Riach said he was pleased to see satisfaction with local infrastructure continue to show improvement year-on-year and in some cases remain steady.

“Drinking water, roads and waste services is what Council continues to focus on and that’s where most of this year’s rates increase is attributed to,” he said.

Satisfaction with the standard and safety of sealed roads has increased by six percentage points to 32 per cent and unsealed roads nine points to 55 per cent.

“This is despite road satisfaction levels across New Zealand trending steadily downward across over the last 20 or so years.”

Mr Riach attributed this spike to a thorough road rehabilitation and maintenance programme, supported by drier weather.

“Council's commitment to our roading network is shown by the increase in road funding in the Long Term Plan (LTP). We’re increasing road funding annually by $2.7 million per year for 2024-27 and an extra $500,000 annually in the LTP to improve the standard of unsealed roads.”

Council’s drinking water supply received a significantly higher satisfaction score of 85 per cent, five points higher than 2023. This is the highest satisfaction score recorded for drinking water supply in the annual residents’ survey.

The LTP saw Council allocate $33.9 million for drinking water network renewals district wide.

Satisfaction with the Mayor and councillors has also increased year on year (from 86 per cent to 89 per cent last year), while satisfaction with council staff rose from seven points to 90 per cent and advocacy by four points to 86 per cent.

Residents are more satisfied with the quality of information published by the Council, rising from 93 per cent in 2023 to 96 per cent in 2024.

Despite a three-point decrease since 2023, residents still perceive their quality of life highly, with 83 per cent expressing satisfaction (86 per cent in 2023).

Council facilities and services continued to rate highly:

• Cemeteries 98 per cent
• Emergency Management/Civil Defence 98 per cent
• Ashburton Domain 97 per cent
• Property Information Services 97 per cent
• Ashburton Library 96 per cent
• Public toilets 95 per cent
• Ashburton Museum 93 per cent
• Community events 93 per cent
• Ashburton Art Gallery 90 per cent
• EA Networks Centre 89 per cent