General News
30 July, 2023
Satisfaction dips to 10-year low: survey
LODDON Shire’s satisfaction rating has dropped to its lowest level in a decade, according to the annual satisfaction survey released late Tuesday morning. Dissatisfaction with the state of sealed and unsealed roads, planning and building permits...
LODDON Shire’s satisfaction rating has dropped to its lowest level in a decade, according to the annual satisfaction survey released late Tuesday morning.
Dissatisfaction with the state of sealed and unsealed roads, planning and building permits and emergency and disaster management has seen approval of council decline among 400 residents surveyed.
The report said: “Loddon Shire Council’s overall performance experienced a (not significant) three-point decline in 2023 and is now the lowest score seen to date.
“This decline is reflected in significant declines on seven of the 16 individual service areas evaluated. Encouragingly, council’s top three performing service areas (appearance of public areas, recreational facilities, and waste management) remain as positive as they were in 2022.”
According to the survey, perceptions of council performance had largely deteriorated.
“This is primarily driven by significant declines among residents living in Inglewood/Tarnagulla (Wards). Performance ratings among these residents are the lowest to date across all service areas evaluated,” it said.
“Restoring positive perceptions in this geographic region will be key. Council should also aim to abate the emerging downward trend in perceptions of customer service – early attention here is warranted.
“Council performs as well or significantly higher than the small rural group and state-wide averages on most service areas evaluated.
“This is a positive result, although council’s performance does lag both the small rural group and state-wide averages significantly on emergency and disaster management and both elderly and family support services.”
Shire CEO Lincoln Fitzgerald said: “Our unsealed road and sealed road network ... were areas of concern for our residents.
“The above average rainfall last year and subsequent flood event in October saw severe damage to our unsealed and sealed road network, which continues to undergo repairs as part of flood recovery.” he said.
FULL REPORT AND ANALYSIS IN YOUR LOCAL LODDON HERALD OUT ON THURSDAY