Councillor Don Palmer Providing Local Leadership & Working for You

Following on from my observations in my recent blog post on Council Rates verses Council Services I am pleased to see how well our residents and businesses view the value they are receiving for the services we provide them. The results of a recent Community Survey tabled at last night’s Council meeting gives Unley the thumbs up.

 

Based on the data and information provided, a number of conclusions can be drawn:

• Overall residents, businesses and the general community are very positive about both performance and the service offering provided by Council. The majority of those surveyed are content to continue on as is, maintaining the existing rates to service ratio.

• The areas receiving optimal ratings for satisfaction and importance by residents included library services, waste management and green spaces (parks, gardens and reserves). Businesses noted waste management, street lighting, street sweeping and events and activities as areas of strength provided by the Council.

• Key areas identified by both residents and businesses for improvement included urban planning and design, footpath sweeping, traffic management and car parking, community engagement, development and planning. It should be noted that feedback varied across these areas. For example, some respondents thought Council should do more in the area of traffic management, while others thought they should do less. Similarly most of the feedback relating to urban planning was in relation to the State Government’s direction on higher density corridors and the need to protect older building from development.

• Overall, there is a strong sense of value for money indicated by both the residents and businesses community.

The feedback provided as part of this survey will be used to inform future service provision, program development and delivery, asset and facility plans and initiatives, identify priority projects and opportunities for improvement, and adjust service standards and levels to ensure that Council is both responsive to community need and is operating in a way that provides both financial sustainability and value for money.