Amenity - Amenity 2
Matamata-Piako Residents' Perception of Their Local Environment
The 2013 Waikato Regional Perception Survey found that 76.4 per cent of respondents from the Matamata-Piako District were satisfied with the ‘unique or special character of your town’. This has increased from 74 per cent satisfaction in the 2010 survey.
The 2013 survey also asked ‘how strongly do you agree or disagree with that you feel a sense of pride in the way your district looks and feels?’. 76 per cent of respondents agreed with this statement, which is consistent with the survey in 2007 and 2010.
In 2000, 2003 and 2006 the Waikato Regional Council, then known as Environment Waikato, surveyed people in the Waikato region to get their views on environmental issues. A similar study was repeated in 2013, and the most important environmental issues that were identified by Matamata-Piako residents were:
| 2000 | 2003 | 2006 | 2013 |
| Water Pollution - 28% | Water Pollution - 25% | Water Quality and Supply - 19% | Water – Pollution/Quality – 32% |
| Waste Disposal - 27% | Sprays and Pesticides - 6% | Water Polltuion - 15% | Water – availability and suitability for use – 19% |
| General Pollution - 8% | General Pollution - 6% | Don't Know.No Reply - 10% | Don’t Know – 15% |
| Air Polltuion - 6% | Rubbish Disposal - 6% | Air Pollution - 8% | Drought – 10% |
| Don't Know - 14% | Animal Pest and Disease - 4% | Effluent disposal/run off - 8% | Waikato River – 5% |
The Waikato Regional Council also asked residents if they thought the overall state of their local environment had improved.
Since 2000 the number of Matamata-Piako residents who consider the overall state of their local environment to have improved has decreased steadily. However, an increasing number of people consider that the overall state of the environment is the same, and slightly fewer people think it is worse.
Participation in Protecting the Environment
In the Matamata-Piako District in 2000, 18% of residents had taken action to protect the environment and 42% of those people believed their action was effective.
In 2003 16% of residents had taken direct action for the protection of the environment through methods such as attending meetings, preparing submissions or writing to Council. Of the residents that had taken direct action, 49% believed that their actions were effective. 14% of respondents had not taken any action to protect the environment.
In 2006, of the respondents who had been involved in public action, 87% of these perceived the effectiveness of the public action to be fairly or very effective. This is a significant increase from 2003.
In 2013, some survey questions were worded differently from those in the earlier surveys, and the overall percentage of people who took action to protect the environment was no longer recorded. However, the following statistics were recorded:
8% of residents were involved in public action or meetings. Of those residents who had taken public action, 39% were on a committee or attended a meeting, and 30% participated in an action group. 50% of people who were involved in public action perceived the effectiveness of that action to be very effective.
