New campaign to find 'What Matters Most?'

Finding out what matters most to Christchurch residents about their city is the focus of a new campaign.

The ‘What Matters Most?’ campaign will be running over the coming five weeks, and Christchurch City Council staff will be out and about in the community, popping up at markets and events, public meetings and forums.

With challenging issues and decisions on the horizon, they'll be finding out what the community’s real priorities are ahead of the Council's Long Term Plan 2024–2034.

“It’s the Council’s responsibility to deliver the core services that keep Christchurch and Banks Peninsula ticking,” says Council Chief Executive Dawn Baxendale.

“Everyone in the city has different priorities, and this exercise will help us see where each of our core services rank in the discussion, as we prepare to allocate our resources for the next 10 years.”

Keep an eye open in your local library or service centre for rotating voting boxes that let you show your support for different priorities by placing a vote with a token, and online for new digital tools that let you share your views in a way that’s interactive, accessible and easy to use.

“It’s about a ‘back to basics’ hands-on approach to gathering people’s voices, combined with innovative digital tools,” Mrs Baxendale says.

“We want to hear from as wide a range of viewpoints as possible. The information and feedback people provide is so important for us both as an organisation and a community because it will be used to inform the draft Long Term Plan.

“The Long Term Plan sets out what the Council will build, maintain and service as a city over the next 10 years, and how we will pay for it.

“Our staff will be out and about in the community. We have an increasingly diverse community here in Christchurch – it’s becoming the city of choice for many, so we’re looking to engage in innovative new ways to tap into that range of voices,” says Mrs Baxendale.

Find out more and provide feedback here.