Resident satisfaction rises with Council services
Published on 25 March 2015
Resident satisfaction is on the rise according to Rockhampton Regional Council’s Resident Satisfaction and Importance Survey which filtered through the community late last year.
Rockhampton Region Mayor Margaret Strelow says it was a collective effort to seek input from the entire Region to identify areas for growth and find out what services are meeting expectations.
“We used a range of methods to get our survey out into the public. Councillors and I conducted face to face meetings in shopping malls and held rural community barbeques to find out what mattered most to our residents.” Mayor Strelow said.
“A broad demographic of people completed the survey with predominantly older residents giving us feedback, however, Council is pleased to see a jump in younger residents participating compared to previous years.”
The top three priorities across the Region include roads, footpaths and parks, closely followed by CBD revitalisation, public safety, waste services and streetscape cleanliness.
Meanwhile, the top performing Council services include the Rockhampton Libraries, Art Gallery, Zoo and the Heritage Village.
“It’s great to see our cultural services are getting the tick of approval, and we have also seen a spike in our facilities and infrastructure services with 16 of those meeting expectations compared to only 6 in 2011.
“However, we do recognise that there is still room for improvement with many areas including urban and rural roads and community development, so we will continue to look at ways on how we progress the right way forward,” she said.
Council will revisit the communities next month using the survey results to determine what priorities can be considered for the 2015/2016 budget.
Background information:
The Resident Satisfaction and Importance Survey was available face to face at meetings, online, mail based (upon request) and at Council’s Customer Service
Centres.
The survey period was from November to December 2014, with most being completed in November.
Total response to the survey equalled 437, this represented a 95% confidence level with an interval of +/-4.68 (based on the regional population of 82,551 Source: ABS 2011 Census).
In total, 47 different Council infrastructure items, facilities and services were surveyed.
Overall satisfaction with Council servicing moving in the right direction - up 11.1%
- The overall community score for all services, facilities and infrastructure aggregated in 2011 was 2.59. In 2014 this score has increase to 2.88 and increase of 11.1%.
Top three priorities for 2014 in order are: Roads, Footpaths and Parks
- Other priorities mentioned in the survey include: CBD revitalisation, public safety, waste services, community development, streetscape cleanliness, good planning and street lighting.
There are now 16 services, facilities and infrastructure items that are meeting expectations
- In 2011, there were 6 services, facilities or infrastructure items. Today there are 16, this is a significant improvement.
- There are still 32 that are below expectations however all of these are moving in the right direction.
Solid increases in satisfaction with infrastructure but more work need to be done
- Urban sealed roads up 23%, from a community score of 1.98 (2011) to 2.43 (2014)
- Rural unsealed roads up 23%, from a community score of 2.00 (2011) to 2.45 (2014)
- Rural sealed roads up 20%, from a community score of 2.11 (2011) to 2.54 (2014)
- Rockhampton Airport up 17% from a community score of 2.67 (2011) to 3.12 (2014)
Service provision focused on achieving social outcomes are not meeting expectations
- These include community development, community engagement and community assistance programs. These have improved however are towards the back half of rated services.