Charles Landry, international enthusiast on creative cities, has urged Palmerston North not to slide into complacency (file photo).





Palmerston North's progress toward becoming a creative and exciting city has been painfully slow in the past six years, but city councillors are reluctant to believe survey results saying so.

A 2013 survey that gave Palmerston North a score of 55.41 per cent on the Creative Cities Index was repeated in 2019, with a result of 55.9 per cent.

The council set a target of achieving 65 per cent by 2028 to meet one of the key goals in its small-city benefits, big-city ambition vision slogan.

Cr Lorna Johnson and eight others said the survey was too subjective to be used as the basis for making future decisions.

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The survey was completed by 423 people, less than the 490 who took part originally.

The age range of those who took part was significantly younger.

The survey's creator, Charles Landry, who described Palmerston North in 2013 as "comfortable rather than captivating", said participants would be more aware of environmental issues and climate anxiety than six years' ago.

"I believe some of these issues are reflected in the results," he said.

The latest survey suggested progress in areas including place and placemaking, the political and public framework, and professionalism and effectiveness.

But it had slumped for communication, connectivity and networking, and for liveability and well-being.

Mayor Grant Smith said for Palmerston North to be sliding on the liveability scale was surprising.

"Overall I think it [the survey] is worthy, but there are definitely questions. It is quite subjective and some of the language is difficult."

Johnson said the council could not give weight to the results.

"We can't have any confidence in the data, or draw any conclusions."

To base decision-making on the results would be "foolish", she said.

Cr Susan Baty described the survey as "a waste of $10,000" because it was not comparing apples with apples.

Deputy mayor Tangi Utikere said council staff had worked hard to make the survey a useful tool.

But he said the results were not robust enough to help the council measure how it was making progress on one of its five major goals for the decade.