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NEWS<br />
28 <strong>Ashburton</strong> <strong>Courier</strong>, <strong>September</strong> <strong>24</strong>, <strong>2020</strong><br />
www.ashburtoncourier.co.nz<br />
Thanks for having a<br />
say on our future<br />
One of the great things about<br />
our local democracy is the<br />
ability, and right, of<br />
residents to have their say on<br />
the proposals and decisions<br />
that will govern them.<br />
It’s aduty that the council<br />
takes very seriously, so when<br />
we went out with ashort<br />
survey to ask what residents<br />
thought the council should<br />
focus on for our future, it was<br />
incredibly pleasing to see so<br />
many people exercising their<br />
right to be heard.<br />
The Our Place, Our Plan<br />
survey was an opportunity<br />
for residents to rank what<br />
issues and topics they<br />
thought were most important<br />
for the <strong>Ashburton</strong> District.<br />
It was based off the results<br />
council received three years<br />
ago when the first survey was<br />
carried out, and was open to<br />
everyone.<br />
The purpose of Our Place,<br />
Our Plan was to get our<br />
community’s ideas in front of<br />
the council before we start to<br />
draft the 202131 Long Term<br />
Plan.<br />
The survey officially<br />
closed on <strong>September</strong> 18.<br />
I’m very happy to report<br />
that 1120 people took the<br />
time in this last month to<br />
complete the survey and tell<br />
council what they believe is<br />
most important for our<br />
district moving forward.<br />
This is afantastic outcome,<br />
and I’d like to take this<br />
opportunity to thank each<br />
and every person who took<br />
part.<br />
Completing ashort survey<br />
may seem like asmall<br />
contribution but in reality, it<br />
has the power to build<br />
compelling evidence and<br />
present perspectives that<br />
can shape decisions.<br />
Just as importantly, it also<br />
gave participants achance to<br />
let council know how they<br />
and their families are coping<br />
with the impacts of Covid19.<br />
Thank you for sharing<br />
these experiences with us. I<br />
am sure these responses will<br />
prove invaluable to our<br />
understanding of exactly<br />
how the <strong>Ashburton</strong> District is<br />
faring and how the council<br />
should proceed over the<br />
coming months and years.<br />
With the survey now<br />
closed, council staff are now<br />
busy working through the<br />
responses ready to present<br />
the results to councillors in<br />
November.<br />
The results will also be<br />
shared with you.<br />
Those answers will then<br />
help council to determine<br />
what projects, activities or<br />
issues it should focus on over<br />
the next 10 years as part of<br />
the draft Long Term Plan.<br />
When the draft plan is then<br />
ready, it too will go out for<br />
community consultation<br />
before the plan is finalised<br />
and adopted next year.<br />
This means there is<br />
another opportunity coming<br />
up to have your say on our<br />
district’s future.<br />
We will continue to keep<br />
you posted on the progress of<br />
the draft Long Term Plan, so<br />
keep an eye out over the<br />
coming months.<br />
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