With community feedback drawing to a close on Monday, more than 100 pieces of feedback have now been received from across the West Coast.
Community conversations have included drop-in sessions across the region, with the final session taking place in Franz Josef today at 3pm. People still have until 5pm on Monday 6 July to share their views through the online engagement platform.
West Coast Local Government Reform Project Lead Ashley Stuart said this was the start of the conversation, and the willingness of people to get involved and share their views is encouraging.
“Every conversation and piece of feedback helps build a better understanding of what is important to our communities as we begin considering the future of local government on the West Coast."
While feedback remains open, several common themes are emerging. To date, there has been a dominant trend of support for further exploring of one unitary council model for the Coast, while the issues most frequently identified as important by respondents are affordability and infrastructure and resilience.
The strongest concerns raised by respondents relate to maintaining local voice and representation and the potential impact on rates. There is also a strong desire to retain local service centres and council offices within each district to ensure services remain accessible to communities.
Ms Stuart said these themes provide an early indication of community priorities but represent only part of the overall picture.
"Whether you've attended a drop-in session, completed the survey, or are only just hearing about the process, there's still time to have your say. We want to hear from as many people as possible before feedback closes on Monday."
"A comprehensive summary of the feedback will be publicly released once the analysis has been completed, ensuring the community can see what we heard."
The community feedback will help inform the Outline Proposal being prepared for the Government's Head Start programme. Any proposal submitted on 9 August will reflect the views, priorities and aspirations shared by West Coast communities during this initial engagement phase.
Feedback can be provided until 5pm Monday 6 July by visiting:
https://haveyoursay.westcoastcouncils.co.nz/engage
-ENDS-
For further information please contact:
Ashley Stuart, Project Lead ashley.stuart@westcoast.govt.nz
