Email panel to gauge views

MANAWATU District residents will have a new public voice in council, with recruitment of an email panel about to begin.

The Public Voice panel of 500 people will be a representative sample of residents able to give their views to the council quickly - via email.

Community Services Group Manager, Brent Limmer, said the aim was to simply gauge the views of the wider community.

“We know that a lot of people let us know what they think through the Annual Plan and Long Term Plan process, but we want to have a quick and easy way of hearing from a greater number of the silent majority, who don’t tend to make submissions or get involved.

“The email panel will allow us to send a question or survey at the click of a button and be able to analyse responses. That way, we can quickly ‘take the pulse’ of the district on any given topic.”

After an initial phone call, potential panelists will complete a brief survey to ensure the panel comprises a representative sample of residents across the district, and that both young and old are online and ready to comment.

Mr Limmer said people who had been taking part in Palmerston North’s email panel had been overwhelmingly positive about the experience, with more than 85 percent of them finding it “interesting” or “very interesting” to take part.

The panel would also be able to split to smaller groups representative of, for example, young people or a particular ward.

Recruitment of the panel will begin on Sunday (August 14) with a randomly selected group contacted by telephone and invited to participate.

Ehe first topic of debate will be the council’s new Draft Community Outcomes – the statements that guide the council’s Long Term Plan.