Community Engagement (River Valley Model)

Ruapehu's rural communities perceive the development and maintenance of Ruapehu's transport infrastructure as Council's most critical function. How we go about the business of land transport determines in a significant way how rural communities view the Council-community relationship.

In response, Council has implemented a community engagement model whereby rural communities have been brought in as a partner at the front of the decision-making process on where and how local road funding is spent.

Under this model, termed the River Valley Engagement Model in recognition of the unique communities of interest who live and work in Ruapehu's remote rural river valleys, local communities identify and prioritise any safety, efficiency or reliability works required on their local roads.

Using the local communities to identify and prioritise where work needs to be done helps ensure the most cost effective and efficient use of available funds.

The programme provides a focus on doing the right repair at the right time to the right quality, rather than budget constraints encouraging short term solutions with greater long term costs and lower performance.

Council's approach to engaging local communities has been recognised at a national level by the Society of Local Government Managers (SOLGM) which awarded the River Valley Model as the winner of the Council-Community Relationships category at the 2012 SOLGM GHD Local Government Excellence Awards.

Council meets with residents of three river valleys around the District every year, so that each area is visited once every three years.

If you would like to know when your area will next be visited, or if you have any issues, please contact Council on 07 895 8188.