Surf Coast Shire Council has again bettered the state average for overall performance in the Local Government Community Satisfaction Survey.
While the municipality’s overall 2020 rating of 60 is two points down from 2019, it remains higher than large-rural council groups (55) and state-wide (58) comparisons.
Results indicate the council rates best on its customer service, with an index score of 76, followed closely by the appearance of public spaces (75).
Coordinated by the Victorian Government, the annual Community Satisfaction Survey (now in its twenty-first year) consists of a random phone survey to a minimum of 400 resident and non-resident ratepayers. It was completed between February and early March 2020.
Compared to 2019 results, Council improved or matched its result in the core measures of community consultation and engagement, appearance of public areas, recreation facilities, local streets and footpaths, community decisions, lobbying, town planning policy, unsealed roads, building and planning permits, population growth and overall Council direction.
Surf Coast Shire Council Mayor Rose Hodge was pleased with the results, highlighting that the council significantly outperforms the State-wide and Large Rural averages on several areas, including customer service, appearance of public areas, tourism development and informing the community.
“We value the survey results as an important gauge of the opinions of local people about the place they live, work and play,” says Cr Hodge.
“We thank everyone who took the time to give their valued opinions. It provides us with confidence in our efforts and also valuable opportunities for ongoing improvement.”
Scores are measured out of 100 and indexed to take into account both performance and how important a given measure is to the survey respondent.
Surf Coast Shire Council’s top three performing areas were:
- Customer service: 76
- Appearance of public areas: 75
- Recreational facilities: 72
Its top three areas for improvement were:
- Planning for population growth: 49
- Planning and building permits: 49
- Maintenance of unsealed roads: 50
“We’re pleased that the technological improvements we have introduced across our customer service have been accepted by the community as we move more of the services online,” Cr Hodge said.
“To me, having customer service at the top of the list is an encouraging sign that our focus on the customer experience is on track.”
Prior to the survey, an e-planning portal was introduced to enable customers to lodge and manage their planning applications and submissions online as a way to give customers options for accessing the planning process when it best suits their needs.
“We’re hoping this will impact positively on the next year’s survey results as we work to continually improve our planning service,” Cr Hodge said.
