559 days ago

Ashburton residents say road quality is their biggest gripe

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from The Press

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%.

Image
More messages from your neighbours
1 hour ago

💡 A Little Brain Buzz for You— Solve These! ⚡

Riddler from The Neighbourly Riddler

You can ask this question all day long and get a completely different answer, yet all the answers will be correct. What is the question?

Do you think you know the answer? Simply 'Like' this post if you know the answer and the big reveal will be posted in the comments at 2pm on the day!

Want to stop seeing these in your newsfeed?
Head here and hover on the Following button on the top right of the page (and it will show Unfollow) and then click it. If it is giving you the option to Follow, then you've successfully unfollowed the Riddles page.

Image
3 days ago

Show us your projects

The Team from Neighbourly.co.nz

Whether it's craft, haberdashery, woodwork or upcycling, we'd love to see what you've been working on lately.
You may even spark someone else's creativity...

Tell us about your current project or show us a picture in the comments below...

Image
14 days ago

What's one highway or road that needs attention?

The Team from Neighbourly.co.nz

We've all been on a summer roadie and experienced first-hand the state of our roads.

If you've ever been stuck in a summer traffic jam, had near-misses on dangerous turns or feared for your life on clifftops (while the car behind you is tail-gating!) - you may have an opinion on this one.

Tell us what main road or highway you think needs some serious attention across the country, and why!

Image