Ashburton residents say road quality is their biggest gripe
By local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
Ashburton residents say the region's roads are their biggest gripe, but a research expert says people are just choosing it as a “default’’ response.
Two-thirds (66%) of respondents, of the 873 residents surveyed, listed roading as the primary reason for dissatisfaction.
Key Research managing director Mike Hooker, who presented the results of the annual residents' survey, questioned the response.
“It’s a perennial issue for the council and it’s also what we refer to as a default attribute,” Hooker said.
“When residents are struggling to give a reason for dissatisfaction, they are defaulting to the roading network.”
The residents’ road satisfaction levels were the opposite of the council’s end-of-year performance report, which recorded the district's sealed local road network as being 98% smooth.
Councillor Carolyn Cameron said she was “fascinated” by that figure, and asked for an explanation.
Roading manager Mark Chamberlain said the smoothness figure was produced “by a machine that goes round and measures roughness”.
“While there are faults on it, the overall network is very good,” he said.
Chief executive Hamish Riach said the council knew the community was dissatisfied with the state of the roads, especially the number of potholes.
The roading network suffered from back-to-back wet winters and now, coming off a drier winter, the contractors hope to get ahead of the problems, Riach said.
“With additional resources, additional attention, and a little bit of luck from the weather, we are optimistic we can improve perceptions of the network.”
The satisfaction with the sealed roads increased up 2% to 26%. Last year's result was the lowest it had, with pothole issues.
The residents’ survey asked what the council should spend more on.
Hooker said this resulted in the “default attribute”, with 61% pointing to roading.
The council resealed 4.9% (75km) of the network in 2022/23, which came down to funding, Chamberlain said.
The survey also highlighted that Ashburton residents were more satisfied than those outside the town boundary, Hooker said.
“If you live in the Ashburton township, you are much more likely to be satisfied with every attribute that we measure than those that live in the rest of the district.”
Again, roading was the example, with Ashburton having a 33% satisfaction level with the state of the roads, while the rest of the district was at 15%.
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️
Poll: Would you rather: Christmas in summer forever or winter forever?
Just a bit of a fun poll to get you thinking.
If you had to live out your Christmas days, would you prefer it was a summer Christmas or a winter Christmas?
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61.9% Summer
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36.6% Winter
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1.5% Other - I'll share below
Worst Xmas ever?
There's a a lot of planning that goes into Christmas day and sometimes things just don't go to plan. But it can be a good thing - a family mishap or hilarious memory that you can laugh about in Christmases to come.
Whether you burnt the dinner or were stranded at an airport...
Share your Christmas mishaps below!
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