MEDIA RELEASE
For immediate release
21 November 2008
1700 young people’s voice is heard by council
“I love Upper Hutt. I think we should make it safer and more fun to live in” says Upper Hutt youth 2008
Upper Hutt City Council has received an overwhelmingly high response rate for their youth survey, with nearly 1700 young
people aged 13-18 taking part. “That’s almost half of Upper Hutt’s young people wanting to engage with Council” said
Upper Hutt Mayor Wayne Guppy.
“I’m really excited that so many of our young people realise that we, at Council, do value their comments. As proven by
the increasing popularity of the survey over the years, our young people can see that they are making a difference by
having their voices heard.
“The survey asks the hard questions around alcohol, drugs and violence, which we face along with many other communities,
but we at Council are prepared to face up to the issues and do something positive. The survey shows that there is a
strong youth voice in the Upper Hutt community; a voice that Council is keen to encourage because our young people are
vital to the future of our city” said Wayne.
Upper Hutt City Council used proactive approaches to get young people to complete the survey by engaging with them not
only through schools, but also alternative training providers, at popular youth hang outs, on school buses and via a
downloadable version online.
Council also offered an Apple iPOD as a prize incentive. Alice Blair, the survey respondent who won the Apple iPOD says
“me and five friends filled out the survey and I think it’s really cool that the council uses it to make changes for
young people.” Upper Hutt Mayor Wayne Guppy personally presented the iPOD to Alice Blair and thanked her for her
valuable participation in the survey.
Mayor Guppy notes that previous survey results have revealed some prominent issues for young people and this data has
already been used to make positive changes in Upper Hutt. For example, Upper Hutt City Council initiated a series of
youth café nights, a street-ball competition, numerous safety initiatives and an upcoming entrepreneurial ‘Future
Dragons’ project.
The 2007 results concluded that nearly one quarter of all respondents identified crime and illegal drug use as the two
biggest issues. As a result, this year’s survey was even more comprehensive than previous years, concentrating on the
finer details around frequency and location of violence, alcohol and drug use.
With a 23% increase in surveys received compared to last year and such a large overall response rate, Upper Hutt is
leading the way by being the first Council to undertake such a regular extensive survey.
The results of the Upper Hutt Youth Survey 2008 will be published and available from the website after extensive
analysis in 2009. Please visit www.uhyouth.com for more details.
ENDS