Appendix 1: Participants in the evaluation

Appendix 2: Council survey

Method

The survey was deliberately designed to be easy to complete. Indicative response ranges were provided where numerical data was required to save council officials the trouble of having to sort through files for exact figures.

The survey was distributed to all consent managers on 12 April 2013. A follow-up email was sent out two weeks later. Before the survey went live, and as a safeguard against low response, a minimum set of councils was selected in order to provide a range of population density and growth characteristics, as this would affect the level of telecommunications installation activity:

dense urban: Auckland Council, Wellington City Council, Christchurch City Council

high growth semi-rural: Selwyn, Ashburton, Waimakariri, Queenstown Lakes

medium growth: Porirua, Horowhenua, Nelson.

At the end of April any council in the above group that had not responded to the first follow up received a phone call. An extra group of five city councils and larger district councils also received follow-up phone calls to cover non-response in the core set. This resulted in a response in all but two councils.

In mid-May 10 councils were chosen at random from those that did not respond (that were not included in the above) to find out reasons for non-response. Contact was made with seven of these. There were two main reasons for lack of response, either a small rural council dealt with very few telecommunications installations, or the survey had been overlooked.

Any council that responded with significant text in the comment fields was phoned for a follow-up conversation. Ministry officials also met with Auckland Council.

Cover letter

Dear All,

Please reply by Monday 29 April 2013

The NES-TF are now five years old and the Ministry for the Environment wants to understand the practicalities local authorities face when implementing them. We also want to know whether the NES-TF are delivering the intended benefits, or whether there are opportunities for improvement.

The enclosed survey offers local authorities the opportunity to comment on NES-TF operation and outcomes. We seek information about:

day to day operation

levels of use

current or foreseen challenges in implementing specific provisions of the NES-TF.

We invite you to complete an online survey following this link – [ ]

If you create an account when invited to do so, this will enable you to complete the survey over a number of visits before you finally submit the survey response.

We will be using information from the survey to evaluate the effectiveness of the NES-TF and to provide a report to the Minister for the Environment. A report of overall results (not those of individual councils) will be made available on the Ministry for the Environment website.

If you have any questions, other than purely administrative questions, regarding this survey, please contact MfE [names and numbers deleted].

First screen of online survey

The National Environmental Standards for Telecommunication Facilities

The Ministry for the Environment is conducting an evaluation into how well the objectives of the NES have been met.

These objectives were to provide for a nationally consistent planning framework for low impact telecommunications infrastructure on road reserves that would:

assist in network and equipment design and equipment sourcing for roll-outs

create a reduction in compliance costs and timeframes for service providers

reduce the timeframe and lower costs for the availability of new services to consumers

contribute to a reduced workload for councils in processing and determining consent applications

set an appropriate balance between local participation in community planning and cost effective national infrastructure investment.

This survey has been sent to all territorial authorities and will gauge each council’s experience of the NES. The evaluation will be completed by June 30th 2013 and the report will be posted on the Ministry’s website. Any consequential amendments to the NES will follow the legislative process.

Responses are confidential and no individual council will be identifiable in the final report.

[link to survey]

Second screen

The survey will take about 15 minutes to complete.

You do not have to fill it all in over one session.

As long as you are logged in you can save and exit as many times as you like.

When you have completed the survey select ‘submit’.

Please complete the consultation no later than 6 pm, Monday, 29th April.

Note: In this survey the term ‘telco facilities’ means telecommunications facilities installed by a licensed network operator.

Compulsory questions are marked with a star (*)

Your details / Name of your council / Your email

Workload

Workload refers to the work involved in administering permitted activities, processing resource consents, undertaking compliance monitoring and liaising with communities.

1. Thinking about your council’s workload in providing for telco facilities, whether covered by the NES or not, how has this changed since 2008? *

It has increased / decreased / stayed the same / hard to say because it comes in waves / don’t know

Please provide more detail

2. Without the NES, what would that workload have been?

Much greater / Much less / About the same / Can’t say

Please provide more detail

3. Does your council collect data on the number of resource consent applications for telco facilities?

Yes / No / Don’t know

(If yes) In what year did the data collection commence?

4. In the past 12 months, approximately how many applications for telco facility resource consents were received by your council? If your council does not collect specific data, please estimate the band.

0/1–10 / 11–100 / more than 100 / don’t know

5. How does your council deal with notifications and radio-frequency reports for permitted activities under the NES, required under clause 4(4)(a) and (b)? (choose all that apply)

Filed in an electronic system / Filed in a paper system / Not retained / Don’t know

Community

6. Since 2008 how many new installations of telco facilities have received complaints from members of the community? Please estimate the total number.

0/1–10 / 11–100 / more than 100 / don’t know

(if > 0 and not DK) What are the main reasons for the complaints? Who in the community is making the complaints? Please summarise. How have the complaints been resolved?

7. One of the objectives of the NES is to set an appropriate balance between local participation in community planning and cost-effective national infrastructure investment. Do you think that an appropriate balance has been achieved?

Yes /no / don’t know. (If no) Please describe why you think this is the case ? What could be done to rectify the balance?

8. How useful have you found the National Environmental Standards for Telecommunication Facilities users’ guide?

Very useful / useful / not useful / not at all useful / don’t know, never used it

If you think the Guide requires any additions or corrections please list them below. *

9. Would your council like to see any changes made to the NES?

Yes / No / Don’t know. (If yes) Please describe the changes

10. Please add any other comments about the NES you would like to make.