Everyone has an opinion about what’s really important and the Queenstown Lakes District Council wants to know what its community thinks, QLDC chief executive Debra Lawson said.

As a starting point the Council has launched a survey online to ask the community what’s on its mind as Council prepares the 2012 10-Year-Plan.

“Part of delivering the draft plan next year, will be consulting with the community about the big issues. We want people to have a say on this now, to help us shape that conversation,” Ms Lawson said.

The big issues were things that Council could change, that would affect priority setting and importantly, improve what we do.

“A lot of the big issues for this community are provided by agencies other than Council, like health and education but we still have an important role in terms of advocacy,” Ms Lawson said.

The Council would decide soon what big issues to include in the draft 10-Year-Plan.

“Before we reach that point we want the community to influence that thinking,’ she said.

The survey was now available online at www.qldc.govt.nz but anyone could participate in other ways.

“The important thing is to have a say. If you can’t do the survey online then a letter, an email, a phone call will all be valuable and appreciated,” Ms Lawson said.

The community had three weeks to ponder, debate and have a say on the big issues, with the online survey open until Friday, 2 September, 2011.

ENDS

For further information please contact Debra Lawson 03 441 0499.

By: Jo Blick