Members FAQ

A purpose built website where residents can securely record their contact details and any special needs, resources & skills they want to share, to help their local community look after each other in an emergency.

It's also a website that Selwyn Council use to share weather warnings, water quality warnings with members.

It is maintained by residents, for residents and you can be involved. Contact a Community Response Team member in your area.

Neighbourhood Support is all about getting to know your neighbours which creates a more caring, safer neighbourhood.  There are many benefits which come from this including getting to know who’s living around you and interacting and socialising more often, feeling more comfortable in your environment, receiving information about emergency preparedness and response and there is a very real connection between Neighbourhood Support and crime prevention/reduction.

Privacy is paramount to us and the only people who can see your details on our website are myself and your street coordinator, and area coordinator if your area has one, so access to details is very limited.  Your details may be shared with emergency services if needed, but otherwise we will not give your details to anyone else. (OK, you are right,... those hosting the system could see your info, but they've got other things on their mind, like making sure they keep the system going really well!)

It is protected by username & passwords. It is available only to your Neighbourhood Support Group members, your local Community Response Team and Selwyn District Council Emergency Management staff.
Details are encrypted by https secure transports.
Remember – only offer the information you are happy to share.

As a member of a street group there's not too much expected of you.  We hope you will support others in your group if they need it and that you will keep your details updated with your coordinator if they change.  It is also nice if you join in any street group activities to get to know those who live around you, but nothing is compulsory.

My name is Sue Jenkins, and I'm the Neighbourhood Support Co-ordinator for Selwyn District.

More info coming.

• You can be alerted very quickly if a boil water notice is issued for your specific water supply.
• You can receive a flood warning if you live near a river.
• You will receive warnings relating to severe weather.
• Emails and text messages can be sent to keep everyone advised about local issues of concern ie burglaries in your street.
• Your neighbourhood will become more connected and a safer, and friendlier place to live.

• Look after your family first.
• Never put yourself in danger.
• Contact the residents in your group.
• Check on those most vulnerable first.
• Identify any needs…..ie no heating, no food, injuries etc
• Report back to your local Community Response Team
• Pass updates from your Community Response Team back to your residents.

Starting up a Neighbourhood is easy and it’s FREE.  The first step is to ...

More info coming - we are developing these new FAQ's presently - June 2015.

A street coordinator would give about 10 hours A YEAR to running their street group, unless there is a major emergency.  If this occurs you would be the contact for your group as far as receiving information from me.  It is hoped once the group is up and running you will organise one or two social occasions per year and welcome any new families moving into your street.  As any database is only as good as the information held in it, keeping details up to date once or twice a year is promoted and this is easy done by either changing the details on the web site yourself, or getting them to me.

The Gets Ready system uses https web security. On top of that there are layers surrounding passwords that make hacking very difficult. If there is enthusiasm from you, the users, we can make the system even harder to get into. We could have a username that is a number, then a password followed by the user being asked to respond to one of three questions they have established. (Refer the Kiwi Bank login process). However, unlike Kiwi Bank, we don't have money to steal, so are unlikely to be challenged by thieves / hackers looking to gain by their hacking activities. There is always a trade off between security and making it really hard for ordinary Neighbourhood Support users to get in and do what needs to be done. We have been running for about 4 years now and are confident in our systems.

We are making use of new, powerful multi-site hosting. That way we are not reliant on just one server in one town that got hit by a volcano or earthquake.

You must be logged in. You must have area level privileges. Then you can edit an area and create a new sub-area.

We've found it works well to operate via town name NE or townname SW from Street one (working clockwise) to street two.

For example

Darfield Rural NW Kimberley Road to railway line.

Names are best kept in a pattern that allows them to sort alphabetically in ways that help people find their way around.