Transcript Holroyd City Council

Holroyd City Council
Community Satisfaction Research
Part B - Qualitative Research Summary Findings
Prepared By: Micromex Research
Date: December 2013
Background
Mapping Stated Satisfaction and
And Derived
Derived
Importance Identifies the
The Community
Community Priority
Priority Areas
Areas
3.7
CONSOLIDATE
Swimming pools
Promoting pride in the
community
3.6
Accessibility to Council
and its services
Stated satIsfactIon
3.5
Community safety
Appearance of the City
3.4
Provision of Council
information to the
community
Tree management
3.3
Financial management
3.2
Community input to
Council decision-making
3.1
Maintaining local roads
IMPROVE
Maintaining footpaths
3.0
3.0
5.0
7.0
9.0
11.0
13.0
Derived Importance
The
key driver
of overall
community
with Council
revolves around
Key
drivers
revolved
around
‘planning’satisfaction
and ‘community
input into
maintaining
decision
making’ local roads
15.0
Core Topics Taken Into The Qualitative Research
To Be Fully Explored
1. Promoting pride in the community
2. Population Growth
3. Local solutions
4. Special Rate Variation
Developed in conjunction with Holroyd City Council
Methodology
Focus group sessions were conducted in order to provide the Holroyd City Council
Project Team with a greater understanding of the priority issues identified in the
quantitative research and to explore response to the potential SRV
Sample
5 sessions were conducted over 4 weeks. Sessions were held at Holroyd City Council
on 24th September, 17th October, and 31st October. A session was held at Allan G
Ezzy Community Centre in Pemulwuy on 24th October.
Two online sessions were conducted with residents on 27th and 28th November.
A total of 44 residents took part in these sessions, with 7 participating via online
Detailed Findings
Residents’ Thoughts About Holroyd LGA
“Happy with the services provided by Council over many years”
“Enjoy the heritage of the area”
“Area does a great job of celebrating cultural diversity”
“Like that Council is smaller and more personal”
“Lucky to have a community based council that cares about the
community”
“Really like the trees and native-ness of the area”
“Lots of amenities, very central”
“Find Council to be marvellous and the area is too”
“Council makes the area a nice place to live”
“Like the Fairs in the streets and things at the parks to take kids to”
“Rates are great for the area”
“It’s great that we can contact Council personally”
Promoting Pride In The Community
Residents described satisfaction with pride in the community as having
three core components:
Pride In The
Community
Cleanliness
Town Centre
Connection
Promoting Pride In The Community
• Cleanliness of the City
Residents want a clean and tidy city. The appearance needs to be welcoming to
visitors.
A City free of graffiti and rubbish is important to residents and will promote
community pride
• Town Centres
Residents described the condition and state of the Town Centre as being a driving
factor for having pride in the community. Residents saw the Town Centre as an
opportunity area to attract visitors and draw residents to the area
“Main Street is old and dirty. Too many cheap shops that display their things and make the
area look dirty”
“Main Street is what you see as soon as you get off the train, and it isn’t a good look”
“Cyclone fencing and razor wire is not a good look and makes you feel unsafe”
Promoting Pride In The Community
• Connection to Community
Residents expressed a desire to connect with the community as a whole.
Residents suggested that Council focus on implementing programs to bring the
diverse groups of the community together as one.
“There are too many segmented groups and not one as a community. Would like to see us
become more ‘one’. People tend to stay in their little groups instead of interacting as a
community”
“Auburn Council brings all of the groups together in a big way. Celebrate diversity. Build
pride on the diversity. It’s quietly done here”
“Focus on welcoming immigrants to the community. Celebrate newcomers”
Council is expected to help create and support community connections
Communication With Council
• Residents expressed a desire for improved communication efforts from
Council. Residents would like to see increases in the circulation of information
from Council, as well as an improved ability for residents to be able to contact
Council regarding services and facilities in the area
• Residents felt that Council should adopt a comprehensive approach that to
community engagement across the full gamut of mediums including: rates
notices, social media, newsletters, billboards, community forums and also
improved accessibility to Councillors in the community
“There are a lot of services in the area but people don’t know about them or where to look for
things that exist”
“No one knows what is going on in the community”
“Councillors should be more visible, and contacting people in the community”
“Social media is only one way of connecting with people”
“Council needs to improve their website to make everything easy to find”
Communication saliency will be the key challenge for council
Population Growth
• Residents were generally concerned about the effects of population growth on
the Holroyd City Council area
• The main concerns related to the impact of population growth on infrastructure,
especially traffic flow, public transportation and parking
• Residents also expressed a concern about having enough open space and
green space with the growing population and development
“Infrastructure is not coping with the increase in population, it is not expanding at the same rate”
“There’s a big push for public transport but there is nowhere to park near the station”
“We do not have the capacity to increase roads and parking so we need to better utilise transport
options that do not burden the roads and parking”
“Need more public transport”
“Many duplexes with single car garages but no parking for multiple family members”
“There’s not enough parking consideration when doing development initiatives”
“Need to ensure there is enough green space and play areas”
Communication saliency will be the key challenge for council
Community Expectations
• Although residents were generally satisfied with the current level of services,
they indicated that some services and facilities were not meeting community
expectations
 Parking was seen as a problem area that would only get worse with the
continued development of multi story apartment blocks
• Residents expressed a desire to see Council focus on the services and
facilities that they felt were unavailable or in decline and see them
developed and improved over time
“General amenities in the area are good but deteriorating”
“I don’t feel safe walking around, need more lighting or something to increase the feeling of
safety in the area”
“Need to improve Main Street and bring it back to life”
“The area is lacking in sporting facilities/grounds”
“Infrastructure is not coping with the increase in population. It is not expanding at the same
rate”
There was no stomach for a decline in servicing
Local Solutions
• Residents don’t want to be amalgamated
• They felt that Holroyd City Council would not benefit from amalgamations
 The general consensus was that the individual needs of each council area
would be lost if handled in such a large government area
“Thought that Holroyd was always better than other councils in the area because it was smaller and more personal”
“Services are really good in Holroyd compared to other areas. Concerned about amalgamation as I think it will pull Holroyd
down”
“Holroyd is better off than other councils in the area”
“Everyone will be fighting for the same pot of gold and I don’t want to live in the suburb that doesn’t get it”
“In theory it should save money, but that’s in theory”
“We’d get even less for our rates”
“Jeopordises the needs of each council”
“Each council has different needs and demographics that wouldn’t be appreciated across a larger council area”
Residents want local solutions
Standard Rate Variation
•
Residents expressed little negativity in regards to the SRV proposal. There was a
general acceptance that there was a need to pay in order to receive improved
services
 Residents were willing to invest in the future of the community
•
Council needs to keep residents informed about where and how the increase in
rates is being spent. Residents were happy to pay for enhanced services as long
as Council maintained a transparent dialogue with the community
 Residents expressed a desire for a simplified summary of how current
revenue is being spent and how additional revenue would benefit the
community
•
Affordability was generally not considered an issue
 There was concern for those on a fixed income
There was no stomach for a decline in servicing
Verbatim Response To the Proposed SRV
“ I Want to see a summary of the delivery plan. Something a layman can understand”
“Happy to pay whatever as long as I can see that they’re not wasting money”
“No one would say that there is sufficient maintenance but people say that rates shouldn’t go up”
“People need to see the improvements”
“Transparency and efficiency is important”
“With population growth, cost of services keeps increasing”
“We want these services and realise we have to pay for them”
“Reality is, you have to pay more rates for more facilities”
“You have to pay for what you want”
A Final Thought
For Consideration - The Rules For Engagement

Whilst it is true that around half the residents don’t wish to be involved with Council, around 50% of the
population who do. We estimate that approximately 5% of those residents who wish to be involved have a
negative opinion of Council and their desire for engagement tends to centre around grievances. This
leaves around 45% of the community who want to be involved but are missing out.
It is important that Council equips these residents with the necessary tools to encourage them to
take that first step
1. Educate/Invite
Residents who feel properly informed and personally invited are more likely to participate
2. Confidence that their feedback will create results
There is no doubt that our lives are getting busier by the day. Residents who take the time to take an interest in
and get involved with Council need to be confident that their time is valued and that their opinions will be heard
and taken into consideration throughout the decision making process
3. Empowerment
Most residents are afraid of Council meetings. The setting is intimidating and many residents lack the confidence
to speak up and get involved. We need to empower this segment of the population and encourage their
attendance
4. Provide follow-up: Close the loop
Getting involved indicates an interest in the process from start to finish. It is imperative to follow all forms of
engagement with communication of the outcomes in order for the process to feel worthwhile
Unless we change the way we approach engagement, future
consultation will continue to be with the same old squeaky wheels
Contact
Stuart Reeve
Managing Director
Ph: 02 4352 2388
Mb: 0425 207 552
E:
stu@micromex .com.au