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Bass Coast Vows To Improve

The 2007 Community Satisfaction Survey results for councils across Victoria are in.

By Bass Coast Shire - 4th June 2007 - Back to News

Every year the State Government conducts telephone surveys with the head of households, asking them to rate their level of satisfaction in 13 key areas.

Bass Coast Shire Council’s results remain relatively unchanged from last year, with the exception of Town Planning Policy and Approvals, which had a significant drop in satisfaction.

Council’s Chief Executive Officer, Allan Bawden said while it was disappointing the Council rating hadn’t lifted, the trend across the past five years was generally an upward one.

"In 2003 our overall satisfaction score was 50 and it is now sitting at 56.

"Many of our services have also had significant and steady improvement since 2003, such as economic development and recreational facilities," he said.

Mr Bawden vowed to continue to work to improve the level of community satisfaction.

"The survey identified three key areas for improvement, including town planning, community engagement and local roads and footpaths, followed by traffic and parking.

"There was some very good constructive criticism and we thank the community for their honest feedback.

"We will now develop specific actions to improve our performance across the organisation," said Mr Bawden.

Summary of Key Results

The table below shows Bass Coast Shire Council’s satisfaction results over the last five years. Ratings range from 100 being "Excellent" to 20 being "Needs a lot of Improvement". The table also compares whether Bass Coast’s rating is higher, similar or lower than other councils in the Large Rural Shires group and all councils in Victoria.

Mr Bawden made the following comments inrelation to each of the 13 areas surveyed.

Year	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	Other Large Rural councils	All Councils
Overall performance	50	51	54	58	56	Lower	Lower
Advocacy	53	53	53	57	57	Lower	Lower
Community Engagement	50	48	48	53	53	Lower	Lower
Customer Contact	67	70	73	69	68	Similar	Lower

Specific Services
Local Roads and Footpaths	43	47	51	52	54	Similar	Lower
Health and Human Services	72	71	70	72	73	Similar	Similar
Recreational Facilities	61	63	62	63	66	Similar	Lower
Appearance of Public Areas	60	62	63	66	64	Lower	Lower
Traffic Management and Parking	51	50	51	51	50	Lower	Lower
Waste Management	71	70	69	69	70	Similar	Lower
Enforcement of By-Laws	55	61	64	61	62	Similar	Lower
Economic Development	51	52	58	58	62	Similar	Similar
Town Planning Policy & Approvals	49	48	45	51	42	Lower	Lower

• Overall performance (56) – Survey respondents said reasons for improvement include town planning issues, Council’s focus on internal politics and seeming inability to achieve outcomes. Community engagement is also highly connected with overall performance and is an area of focus for our improvement.
• Advocacy (57) – Those who felt we needed improvement perceived that we have not represented the interests of the community enough and need to lobby harder on key local issues. We need to address this by ensuring there is a clearer understanding of what the key advocacy issues are.
• Community engagement (53) – Many community members felt we need to communicate more and keep them better informed. They also felt that we need to listen more and take more notice of community wishes. We are looking at better ways of communicating with the community through initiatives such as a Community Planning project, an improved website, fact sheets around the budget and more interactive forums.
• Customer contact (68) – According to respondents, this area can be improved further by responding faster and improving our customer service skills. We have implemented a Customer First Program, which should lead to improvements in this area in the near future.
• Local roads and footpaths (54) – Areas of improvement cited include more frequent and better resurfacing of roads and repairs to footpath surfaces. We have and will continue to increase resources in this area in order to provide better facilities. Our dust suppressant program is a good example of a recent improvement.
• Health and Human Services (73) – This is an area where despite huge increases in aged population we’ve maintained a solid rating. We are committed to improvements such as reducing waiting lists for services. This focus has worked well in Home and Community Care, which now has no waiting lists.
• Recreational facilities (66) – Areas of improvement include more/better sporting complexes (including pools) and more facilities/activities for young people/teenagers. We will continue to develop our sporting facilities, particularly for young people e.g. skate parks.
• Appearance of public areas (64) – Respondents would like to see more frequent/better street cleaning and better maintenance of parks and gardens. The recent drought has presented some difficulties in maintaining the service standards in these areas, but we will continue to do the best we can.
• Traffic management & parking facilities (50) – Areas of improvement include more parking facilities adjacent to shopping and business centres and more parking facilities and capacity. We have recently improved parking facilities in areas such as Cowes, but continue to struggle to keep pace with the growing demand for parking, especially in seaside localities during holiday periods.
• Waste Management (70) – Respondents would like to see more consistent/lower fees for tips and collection of green waste. We have had to increase fees and charges in order to meet the growing costs of waste management, often driven by legislative change and the requirements of government agencies. We are currently working on a Waste Management Strategy, which will include a review of services and options for the future.
• Enforcement of By-Laws (62) – Respondents said they would like to see greater enforcement of animal By-Laws and greater enforcement of noise By-Laws (domestic, industrial, traffic). We are implementing initiatives such as dog off-leash areas in order to assess the impact this may have in reducing incidents between dogs and the public.
• Economic development (62) – Respondents would like to see more/better job creation programs and employment opportunities and the encouragement of more tourism. We are currently developing strategies that are aimed at increasing sustainable employment opportunities in the Shire over the long term.
• Town planning policy and approvals (42) – Survey respondents felt that there is too much regulation in heritage areas and too much ugly and inappropriate design and development out of character with the neighbourhoods. This is a difficult issue. For example, heritage controls which are a method to help stop inappropriate development were an extreme source of conflict. We will continue to work really hard to improve in this area and communicate more with the community.

Source: www.gippsland.com

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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