Whanganui community views survey - what locals really think

Part of the survey gathered opinions about Kowhai Park. Photo / File

Life is good in Whanganui! That's according to a new survey of hundreds of locals.

Five hundred locals have had their say on topics including Whanganui amenities and council leadership in the 2019 community views survey, and results have now been presented to the council.

More than 80 per cent of survey participants rated their standard of living as extremely good or good, and 89 per cent said they were satisfied living in Whanganui.

Readers commenting on the Chronicle Facebook page today listed the reasons they love living in Whanganui.

One mentioned the Kowhai Park "choo choo" 57 years ago. Another wrote "Saturday morning market, bridge walk, people, great cafes, Kowhai Park, Virginia Lake, too many things to list."

Another reader said Whanganui was their hometown and it was an awesome place, plus "Kowhai Park's the bomb for all ages, keep it up Wangas."

The survey was undertaken between March and April.

Satisfaction with the standard of public toilets was below target at 50 per cent, while 12 per cent of respondents said they were dissatisfied with the standard.

One respondent said "Whanganui is not up to scratch with cleanliness and tidiness of toilets", while another said "Public toilets used to be so clean! I don't know what happened, but it's definitely gone downhill!"

Another said "there are not many toilets in the main street. If you have elderly or little kids with you, they can't wait sometimes."

These unhappy locals are in luck. The council has announced a new toilet will be installed on Victoria Avenue, though this was unrelated to the survey result.

The unisex and wheelchair accessible toilet will be put between Guyton and Ingestre Streets.

It's expected the new toilet will be completed within three weeks.

Councillor Helen Craig said ideally every block should have a public toilet as some members of the community needed quick and easy access.

"The cost factor of installing and regularly servicing makes it difficult to provide toilets in every block, but this is a step in the right direction."

The performance of the mayor and councillors came in at 54 per cent, slightly above target but down on the previous year result of 59 per cent.

User satisfaction with sportsgrounds was 85 per cent, up on the previous year result of 56 per cent.

The satisfaction with playgrounds is at 75 per cent, increasing around 20 per cent on the previous year's survey.

One person replied "Kowhai Park is always going to be something special for Whanganui so we shouldn't be changing that, but offering something something on the Springvale/ St Johns Hill side of town which is keeping with what is available would be a real asset to our community."

Another said "Kowhai Park is an awesome facility, but it'd be nice to have more playground equipment in some of the smaller parks too – within walking distance of more residential areas."

Whanganui's traffic lights are a hot topic among residents. Photo / File

Some respondents were satisfied with the CBD's traffic lights while some saw it as a major issue.

"While driving around I find the traffic light system terrible," one person said, while another suggested getting rid of traffic lights in favour of roundabouts.

User satisfaction with libraries has seen growth over the last two surveys, however use of libraries is down eight per cent.

One respondent said "the library is so noisy! I've never been to such a loud one, people talking with raised voices. I went to such one day and it was so distracting."