2019 Huon Valley Community Satisfaction Survey results released

In October 2019, residents from throughout the Huon Valley were surveyed to explore satisfaction with Council’s performance and areas of interest within the community. The results are now available to view on the Huon Valley Council website and will help Council understand what services are important to our community and areas that need to be improved.

Council’s result shows a good level of satisfaction among residents, with a score of 6.99 achieved out of a possible 10 for overall satisfaction with Council. This result places Council on a similar level to other rural Tasmanian councils, and marginally higher than both the average of southern councils and the state-wide average.

Almost half of the 251 respondents were “very satisfied” with Council’s overall performance, while less than 10 per cent (8.9 per cent) of respondents were dissatisfied.

In the area of governance and leadership, Council received higher scores than the statewide average for:

Responsiveness of Council to local community needs (6.86) Council performance maintaining the trust and confidence of the local community (6.76) Council’s representation, lobbying and advocacy (6.72)

Respondents reported a similar level of satisfaction to the state-wide average with Council’s performance making decisions in the interests of the community (6.50), but a marginally lower level of satisfaction with Council’s community consultation and engagement (6.34).

Excellent scores were received for the following services:

Emergency and disaster management and recovery (8.38) Provision and maintenance of parks, gardens and playgrounds (7.93) Regular recycling/green waste collection services (7.89) Regular garbage collection service (7.88)

Top issues to address in the Huon Valley at the moment related to Council’s communication with the community; improvements to planning, building and development; and improvements to road maintenance and repairs.

Huon Valley Council Deputy Mayor Sally Doyle said the survey will be useful in guiding future decisions and planning for Council.

“It is pleasing to know what we are doing well so we can continue to keep those standards high, while knowing the main areas of concern within our community will help us find solutions to address problems,” said Cr Doyle.

When asked what is the best thing about living in the Huon Valley, the most common responses related to the “parks, gardens, and open spaces” (13.3 per cent) and Council being “responsive, proactive, engaged, accessible, consultative” (12.3 per cent). When asked their agreement with the statement “I am satisfied with my life as a whole”, the overwhelming majority of respondents reported a “very high” level of agreement, with an average agreement of 8.80 out of 10.

“We appreciate those who took the time to give us their feedback and will use the results to continue to improve our performance and service standards to make the Huon Valley an even better place to live,” said Cr Doyle.

You can view the results here and download a print-friendly version of this media release here.