27/07/2026
Thanks Councilors for the update.
BREAKING NEWS……
PRELIMINARY RESULTS FROM THE SURVEY
4035 Responses!
What’s next, Selwyn? - final survey analysis summary
The final What’s next, Selwyn? survey analysis has now been completed.
The final survey result provides a clear community mandate to progress a Selwyn Unitary Authority as the preferred community-supported option for the Head Start proposal. The final headline results were:
Selwyn Unitary Authority 2,342, 58.0%
Mid Canterbury Unitary Authority 967, 24.0%
Northern four-council unitary authority 726, 18.0%
Total 4,035 = 100.0%
The Selwyn option therefore received more than twice the support of the Mid Canterbury option and more than three times the support of the Northern four-council option. It also retained clear majority support across the principal geographic groupings analysed.
The free-text analysis shows that respondents were applying different perspectives of what a good reform outcome would look like to them.
Selwyn-option respondents generally emphasised local control, demonstrated local capability, growth management, local voice, Selwyn identity and protection from financial or metropolitan risk.
Mid Canterbury-option respondents generally emphasised rural alignment, community of interest, geographic fit and sufficient scale without metropolitan domination.
Northern-option respondents generally emphasised scale, reduced duplication, Greater Christchurch integration, infrastructure coordination and regional or catchment capability.
The practical implication is that the proposal can fairly say that the community preference is for Selwyn to remain substantially intact and become a unitary authority.
The result does not show one part of Selwyn carrying the Selwyn option against the preferences of another part of the district. Support for the Selwyn option is broadly consistent across the district.
There are still geographic nuances. The Northern option is relatively stronger in the Greater Christchurch-facing area, which is unsurprising given the stronger connection with Christchurch for work, transport, housing and services. Mid Canterbury is relatively stronger in the north-west and south-east groups. Even so, Selwyn remains the majority preference in all three groups.
The Selwyn Unitary Authority option is the best-supported structure for Selwyn because it best balances the community’s preference for local accountability and Selwyn identity with the need for effective regional functions, catchment management, growth planning, infrastructure coordination and service continuity.
(Caveats-
The survey is self-selected and should not be described as a statistically representative poll of the Selwyn population. Percentages from free-text coding are percentages of coded comments, not percentages of all respondents. Themes can overlap, so theme percentages do not add to 100%.
The analysis is still very useful because it combines structured preference data with a large body of coded free-text evidence. The structured results show the community’s stated preference. The free-text results explain why respondents chose as they did and identify the tests and safeguards the proposal needs to address.)
