The majority of Queanbeyan-Palerang residents are satisfied with Council’s overall performance according to the results of the 2020 Community Satisfaction and Wellbeing Survey.
The statistically valid survey conducted by Jetty Research showed that 55% of residents were either satisfied or very satisfied with Council, with 15% dissatisfied or very dissatisfied (30% neither satisfied or dissatisfied). This result gave QPRC an overall satisfaction rating of 3.5 out of five, which was higher than nine other similar-sized councils in NSW and on par with the results from the 2018 survey.
The survey also focused on the performance of Council’s 25 services, with libraries, water supply, sewage collection, parks, reserves and playgrounds and Council pools and sporting facilities score 3.98 out of 5 or higher. Poorer performing services included development applications, unsealed roads, tourism marketing, building inspections and community consultation.
Residents’ satisfaction with services was also compared to the importance of services. This analysis showed that community halls, libraries, online series and pools and sporting fields were performing above expectations, while environmental monitoring and protection, footpaths and cycleways and economic development were performing below resident expectations.
“Overall, the results of the Community Satisfaction and Wellbeing Survey are positive for QPRC, with some pleasing feedback from our community,” Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council Mayor, Cr Tim Overall said.
“Council provides a very wide range of services across the community and we are continuing to improve our services through our service review program and customer feedback.
“It is worth noting that this survey was undertaken in March 2020, just a few months after bushfires devastated the eastern parts of our local government area, just as Covid-19 was starting to have an impact in Australia and following a long-term drought. All of these factors would have had an impact on the outcome of the survey, so for the results to still be largely positive is a good sign.”
Some of the other highlights of the survey include:
- The majority (89%) rated their quality of life as either good or extremely good with around 3% rating it as poor.
- The majority of residents agreed that the Queanbeyan-Palerang LGA was a great place to live (88% total agreement including 48% strongly agree)
- Over a third felt the Queanbeyan-Palerang LGA had improved as a place to live and many of these put this down to Council’s improvement of services and infrastructure.
- QPRC residents’ preferred method for dealing with Council was online. Online was the preferred method of contact with Council when making a payment (76%).
- Three in five (61%) residents received Council information via the QPRC News Newsletter, a further 23% received information in the post (up from 8% in 2018) and 11% received the weekly e-newsletter.
The survey was undertaken during March 2020, with a statistically valid sample contacted randomly via phone. An online version of the survey was also available for those who were not randomly called.
The full survey is available at https://www.qprc.nsw.gov.au/Resources-Documents/Strategies-and-Plans
