Survey provides council with safety in numbers
By Tim O?Connell
Local authorities will soon have a wealth of public opinion to gauge how safe Hutt City is in the eyes of its residents, as the council?s Safe City survey draws to a close. Since the start of March, Several hundred Hutt residents have participated in the HCC?s first ever ?perception of safety? phone survey. Spearheaded by the council and carried out by New Zealand research company Perceptive Insight Limited, the initiative sought to garner feedback from residents in all suburbs regarding what issues need addressing in the future. As well as pinpointing areas of the city which needed looking into, participants were also asked to offer ways of improving safety in Hutt City. HCC Safe City Officer Adrian Peoples said the need to conduct such a survey was necessary in order to ensure Hutt City remained a place that both locals and visitors had no reservations about visiting. ?Perception of safety is very important for the vitality and wellbeing of our city,? ?If people feel certain places are potentially unsafe, they?re obviously much less likely to use them,? he said. ?In a shopping area, this can have economic impacts for local retailers- feeling unsafe can also prevent residents from using recreation facilities.? Latest Police figures have reinforced the need to address various aspects of safety at both ends of the Hutt. Mr Peoples acknowledged the impact that crime and safety issues may have on the city if nothing was done to address the problems now. ?A reputation for being unsafe and uncared for can lead to unwanted activities in an area such as vandalism and graffiti. ?The survey has been prompted by the need to base our safe city work not just on crime figures but on the views of the public about how safe or unsafe areas are.? With the survey period now complete, the findings of the survey will be presented to Council in the coming weeks for discussion before any strategy is devised. Mr Peoples said that results will be used to develop crime prevention and security activities, and to identify physical improvements such as increased lighting. Six hundred Hutt residents were surveyed as part of the initiative.
