Hamiltons public transport doctors visits and stress big winners in Quality of Life survey

Hamiltonians are less stressed, can visit doctors more easily and are finding themselves using Facebook and public transport more and more each day according to New Zealand's latest Quality of Life survey.

Hamilton City Council is one of twelve councils participating in the Quality of Life Project, a survey which is undertaken every two years to collect data from residents on a range of issues for which data is not readily available through other official, industry and community sources. Results provide a comprehensive picture of the quality of life in major New Zealand urban areas.

Hamilton Mayor Bob Simcock says the aim of the survey is to measure residents' perceptions of overall quality of life and this year's results provide a number of interesting highlights for health, public transport, leadership, safety and social networking in the city.

"While there are a number of factors which influence people's perceptions, the Quality of Life Survey provides an interesting high level measure of how Hamiltonians are feeling about their city and one which Council can take account of when looking at long-term priorities for the city.

"Since 2006 the number of Hamilton residents' rating of graffiti or tagging as a problem increased from 66% in 2006 to 80% in 2008. Moving into 2009 Council has streamlined its tagging removal functions and is addressing tagging in the city in a much more robust and proactive way with a full-time Graffiti Co-ordinator onboard working with 3 fulltime painters and Council's newly launched, 24 hour 0800 TAGBUSTERS hotline. Weather dependent Council teams currently work to a 48 hour removal turnaround, with quick removal being key to denying taggers the exposure they are looking for.

"A co-ordinated, prevention-focused response from CCTV operators, the Police and Council's City Safe officers is also addressing residents concerns and producing real results in addressing safety in the central city. On the ground what that means is that the frequency with which incidents escalate from minor infractions to serious incidents is significantly reduced due to early intervention.

"Just 7% of Hamilton residents report that in the past 12 months they had wanted to visit a doctor but had not done so - a huge decrease from the 24% in 2006 and largely due to PHO registrations vastly reducing patient costs. Likewise Hamiltonians are rating their public transport well above the national averages for safety, ease of use, frequency, reliability and affordability.

"A lot of these issues often require a co-ordinated response from Council and other agencies and organisations in the city. It is great to see these networks working effectively and delivering positive results for residents," Mr Simcock says.

Residents also noted a 10% drop in confidence in Council decision-making from 67% in 2006 to 57% in 2008.

"While this is still well above the national average of 47%, it's an important reminder to Council of the value of transparency and accountability, both paramount priorities for us in working with our community."

Areas of significant change reported by Hamilton residents in the 2008 Quality of Life Survey include:

* Just 7% of Hamilton residents reported that in the past 12 months they had wanted to visit a doctor but had not done so - a huge decrease from the 24% reporting this in the 2006 survey.
* Residents' experience of stress has changed favourably - those rating that they experienced stress always or most of the time has decreased from 11% in 2006 to 8% in 2008.
* Almost half (48%) of Hamilton residents perceived vandalism to be present in Hamilton, an increase from 40% in the 2006 survey.
* Nearly all Hamilton residents felt either very safe or fairly safe in their homes (98% during the day, 93% after dark), but less so in their neighbourhood after dark (51%) or in the city centre (95% during the day, 42% after dark). The largest change in these ratings was with feeling safe in the city centre after dark (decreased from 51% in 2006 to 42% in 2008).
* When considering the social networks they belonged to, Hamilton residents reported a large increase in the percentage belonging to an Online community or interest group, including sites like Bebo or Facebook (41% in 2008, compared to 20% in 2006). Family was still the main network people belonged to (83% of Hamilton residents reporting this).
* Hamilton residents rating of their confidence in Council decision-making decreased from 67% in 2006 to 57% in 2008, however this 2008 result is still significantly higher than the total New Zealand rating of 47%.
* Hamilton residents' rating of graffiti or tagging as a problem increased from 66% in 2006 to 80% in 2008.
* The percentage of Hamilton residents rating water pollution as a problem decreased from 44% in 2006 to 33% in 2008, while the rating of noise pollution as a problem decreased from 40% in 2006 to 34% in 2008.
* 12% of Hamilton residents were regular users of public transport (2 or more times a week), a slight increase from the 2006 result of 10%. 41% had not used public transport in the last 12 months, compared to 50% in 2006. Only 1% said they had no public transport available, down from 8% in 2006.
* The majority of Hamilton residents believed public transport was:

Safe (80% compared to 72% of total New Zealand residents)
Easy to get to (79% compared to 64% of total New Zealand residents),
Frequent (70% compared to 49% of total New Zealand residents),
Reliable (70% compared to 54% of total New Zealand residents),
Affordable (67% compared to 51% of total New Zealand residents).