An Otago Regional Council (ORC) wellbeing report received by the Central Otago District Council (CODC) at its meeting on Wednesday (July 19) reinforced for councillors what a great place they live in, despite one councillor being being “gobsmacked” Otago scored lower than Auckland in the healthy natural environment dimension. 

CODC senior strategy advisor Alix Crosbie said the challenge with the report was getting the data sources down to Central Otago, rather than all of Otago.

“As we all know, what’s happening in Dunedin and what’s happening in Ranfurly are worlds apart.”

The Otago Wellbeing Baseline Report was funded and commissioned by ORC.

The ORC report measured seven dimensions of wellbeing. PHOTO: Supplied

The Otago region and its communities fared better than the national average in terms of healthy and fulfilled people, with people in the region living safe, meaningful lives with good physical and mental health; belonging and identity, with residents of all backgrounds reporting a sense of belonging in Otago; and participation and governance, with formal and informal governing bodies functioning effectively through active and diverse engagement.

The region performed at or near the national average for a good standard of living, and a healthy natural environment.

Central Otago councillors were surprised to learn that Otago performed below the national average for connected communities, and an enabling built environment.

The framework the report was based on had input from all local territorial authorities, manawhenua-owned consultancy Aukaha, representatives from the public health sector, and some community groups. CODC chose to participate for the opportunity to gain better understanding of wellbeing measures, “and because of a belief we should work together for the wellbeing of everyone”, Alix said.

In comments on the report, Tracy said she was “completely and utterly gobsmacked” that the Otago region scored considerably lower than Auckaland for a healthy natural environment.

“That does not make any sense at all,” she said.

“I suppose it’s the same for the population reporting that their dwelling is cold sometimes,” Tracy said. “We live in Central Otago, it is cold.”

CODC community development advisor Rebecca Williams said that was inherent in the limitations of the report covering such a wide area, but that the data was still useful. 

“This is our baseline, so even with that data, it will show improvement or not.”

Both Mayor Tim Cadogan and Cr Cheryl Laws said the report showed them that Central Otago was a great place to live.

“The report really confirmed that we live in a really good place,” Cheryl said.

Find the full report here.