67% Disapproval rating for Weston

Barry Murphy
3 days ago
2 min read

Councils Survey Results Show Ongoing Dissatisfaction with Council

Earlier this year, in May, we released the results of our community survey highlighting serious concerns with Ruapehu District Council’s performance. Those results showed that 54% of respondents were not happy with Council, a finding that directly contradicted how the results were presented in Council’s Annual Report.

You can read that earlier analysis here:👉 https://www.saveohakune.com/post/rdc-survey-results-wrong-in-annual-report

At the time, many residents told us they felt their views were being minimised or reframed in a way that did not reflect their lived experience. Unfortunately, the latest survey data indicates that those concerns have not gone away.

What the Latest Survey Shows

The most recent survey, completed by 145 residents, asked respondents to rate their satisfaction across a range of areas, including Council leadership, performance, and public consultation.

Overall leadership and performance of RDC’s Councillors

66.9% of respondents were Not satisfied
26.2% were Satisfied
Only 5.5% were Very satisfied

This means more than two-thirds of respondents remain dissatisfied with the leadership and performance of Councillors.

Council consultation and public involvement

When asked how satisfied people were with the way Council consults with and involves the public in decision-making:

64.1% were Not satisfied
27.6% were Satisfied
Just 6.9% were Very satisfied

Again, a strong majority of respondents expressed dissatisfaction.

A Clear Pattern Over Time

When viewed alongside the results we released in May — where 54% of respondents were unhappy with Council — a clear and consistent pattern emerges:

👉 Community dissatisfaction is not isolated, new, or marginal.👉 It has persisted across multiple surveys and time periods.

Despite this, many residents feel their concerns are still not being meaningfully acknowledged or addressed.

The survey results, along with the comments from respondents are available at https://fyi.org.nz/request/31881-survey-results-for-customer-satisfaction-2025?nocache=incoming-136451#incoming-136451

Teitei drive

The community is still waiting for answers from Ruapehu District Council on why and how such lies & secrecy continued under CEO Clive Manley and Mayor Weston Kirton, along with the mistreatment of residents and ratepayers of Ohakune