2014 Report

Council contracted Opinions Market Research Ltd to carry out a telephone survey in October 2014 of 350 Grey District residents over the age of 18 to measure community satisfaction with the Grey District Council and its services.

The survey confirmed a high general resident satisfaction with Council and its services. As indicated to Council (the agenda item is available to view below), there are areas for improvement and we will drill down to get a clear feel for the reasons why reasonable numbers of residents are dissatisfied with some services and will address these within existing budgets or as part of the next Annual Plan/Long Term Plan.

Many thanks to everyone who participated in the survey. The complete report is available to read below.

Documents

Resident Satisfaction Survey - November 2014 (PDF, 2.3MB)

Agenda item for Resident Satisfaction Survey - December 2014 (PDF, 233KB)

Summary

Some highlights from the 2014 report are:

Overall performance

Satisfaction with the overall performance of Grey District Council over the last 12 months is consistent with 2013 findings (81% of residents are extremely, very or quite satisfied). It remains lower than the 2011 results (90%). Lower satisfaction is most commonly related to dissatisfaction with support/ communication and things not moving forward.
Satisfaction with the performance of the Mayor and Councillors is unchanged since 2013 (83%).
68% of residents have contacted Grey District Council in the last 12 months, of whom 84% are satisfied with the overall service they received.

Information from Council

Satisfaction with the information residents receive from the Council has risen to 85% in 2014, up from 78% in 2013.
Residents most commonly prefer to receive information from the Council via a Council quarterly newsletter (60%), letter/bulk mail out (42%) or in the newspaper (38%).
21% of residents prefer to receive information via social media, up from 10% in 2013. Younger residents aged 18-24 years are particularly likely to prefer to receive information this way (41% in 2014, up from 28% in 2013).

Council facilities and services

Satisfaction with Council facilities and services tends to be slightly lower in 2014 than in 2013 and 2011.
Satisfaction has dropped significantly with the maintenance of roads (down from 76% in 2011 to 52% in 2014), the District's roading network (down from 81% to 68%) and the regulation of land use (down from 65% to 49%).
Satisfaction is highest for rubbish collection (91%) and parks and reserves (90%), followed by the maintenance of cemeteries (85%) and libraries (81%). The majority (91%) of residents stated they feel safe on local roads.
92% of residents who have their rubbish collected by the Council are satisfied that their rubbish/recycling is collected on time and 88% are satisfied with the household rubbish/recycling service in general.
74% of residents on a Council water supply are satisfied with the water's appearance and taste and 88% are satisfied with the pressure and flow, both lower than in 2011 (81% and 94% respectively).
24% of residents stated they feel very well prepared for an emergency event (down from 35% in 2011). 50% feel quite well prepared, while 22% feel not very well prepared and 5% feel not at all well prepared.

Our District

The majority of residents (94%) agree that the District is a great place to live, with 43% agreeing strongly with the statement.
60% of residents feel a sense of pride in the way the District looks and feels. Whilst 5% down on last year, it still is on average for the Councils in the group and the fourth highest rating in the group. This is a promising return given the economic challenges the District has faced.