High satisfaction rate in new city subdivisions

19 August 2004

Most residents in Christchurch’s newest subdivisions are European, earn between $60,000 to $100,000, own two cars, have built their own home and are very happy with their new subdivision, the interim results of a City Council survey shows.

“Prior to the New Subdivision Residents Survey earlier this year little, if any, research had been undertaken to find out who lives in these subdivisions and whether the design and development of them has helped Council’s long-term urban planning and provided quality living environments for residents,” Senior Planner, Janine Sowerby says.

Twenty-seven new subdivisions were selected for the survey. Most of these subdivisions are located at the edge of the city’s urban boundary, on formerly rural land that has been rezoned for residential purposes since 1995. Of the 2431 residents mailed the survey, 1481 completed surveys were returned a response rate of 61% .

“Both the high response rate of 61% and the interim results (from the ‘closed questions’ part of the survey only) indicate that most new subdivision residents are happy with their lot,” Ms Sowerby says.

Nine out of ten respondents living in these subdivisions identified themselves as NZ European/European (5% more than the 2001 census), with very few Maori and Pacific people represented. Asians represented 5%.

The majority of respondents were spread across four age groups, a quarter each being 35 to 44 and 45-54 years old, with 20% aged 55 to 64 years and 17% aged 25 to 34 years. Only 1% were aged 15 to 24 years (1%) and 11% 65 years and over.

Over three quarters of respondents previously lived in another Christchurch home for more than 5 years, indicating that most are not first-home owners or recent immigrants.

Very few are sole occupants. About 40% live with one other person and 38% live in households of three or four people. Two-thirds of the respondents had no children, but of those who did, most had one or two children. Only five per cent of households had three children and one per cent had four or more.

When planning to move from their previous homes, most had sought locations in north-west Christchurch (13%), followed by east Christchurch (10%) and north Christchurch (8%). Over three quarters (77%) of respondents said they had ended up in their preferred location and 90% said they were satisfied with the distance to shops, services and main roads to and around the city, followed by community facilities and recreation facilities at 81% and 80% respectively.

Over half (57%) of respondents have some contact with other people in their subdivision, stopping to chat to them or to tell them when they are going away. Most indicated a wish to live in their new subdivision for long periods of time – 23% for between three to 10 years and 24% for more than 10 years.

Half of the respondents had built their house, while a third purchased their house after construction. Over half were four-bedroom homes and a third had three bedrooms.

What were they unhappy about? Some residents felt that their subdivision’s roads are too narrow, providing few on-street carparks and little room to pass another car. Others were dissatisfied with their outdoor privacy from neighbours, citing the closeness of neighbour’s houses, although three-quarters felt the size of their section was “just right”.

Overall, 93% said they were very satisfied with living in new subdivisions – saying they found it very easy to move about their subdivisions  by foot, cycle or car, and they considered the local park features to be good, particularly their size and location.

It is expected, however, that when completed in October 2004, the final results will highlight specific issues in various subdivisions that the Council will need to address.

For further information or a copy of the interim results, contact Janine Sowerby on phone 941 8814 or email Janine.Sowerby@ccc.govt.nz

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