Benjamin Millar
Melton residents have highlighted traffic management as their key concern in the latest survey of residents measuring the council’s performance.
The Annual Community Satisfaction Survey gauged the current levels of satisfaction with the council’s performance across a number of areas, as well as identifying key issues and concerns for the council to prioritise.
Normally conducted door-to-door, this year’s survey was conducted by Metropolis Research as a telephone survey due to COVID-19 social distancing restrictions.
A total of 800 households participated in the survey between June and July, providing a sample representative of the demography of the municipality.
The key issues in the municipality identified by survey respondents remain traffic management, road maintenance and repairs, safety, policing, crime, parks, gardens, open spaces and parking.
Satisfaction with the council’s customer service delivery remains at a “very good” level, dropping slightly from the previous year to an average score of 7.59 out of 10.
The average satisfaction with the 38 included services and facilities was 11.3 per cent higher than satisfaction with Council’s overall performance, the same result as recorded last year.
A report on the survey noted the services with the highest levels of satisfaction this year included the local library (8.75), green waste collection (8.67), regular garbage collection (8.65), regular recycling (8.62) and health services for babies, infants, and toddlers (8.01).
“Satisfaction with all but four services and facilities recorded satisfaction scores higher than the overall satisfaction with Council this year, suggesting most services and facilities are a positive influence on satisfaction with Council’s overall performance,” it stated.
The four services and facilities to record satisfaction scores lower than overall satisfaction include maintenance and repair of sealed local roads (6.39), public toilets (6.62), local traffic management (6.65), and footpath maintenance and repairs (6.72).
Satisfaction with planning for population growth by all levels of government decreased significantly this year, down 6.6 per cent to 6.04, but remains at a “solid” level.
The result now sits marginally lower than the metropolitan Melbourne average of 6.14.
