17 December 2014

Circular Head General Manager Tony Smart said a community survey conducted between September and October this year had 166 responses.

The survey was sent to 1250 properties in the Circular Head municipal area and was available at Council and on Council’s website.

“While this result was a little bit below our expectations it is pleasing to see that there is interest in providing feedback to Council so we can look at ways to improve our service standards,” Mr Smart said.

“The results are in and it is clear that we have met the objectives of the survey, which were to provide an opportunity for the community to express what they do and don’t like about the way we provide services and how we can improve in the future.”

This is the first Community Survey conducted by Insync Surveys for Council, with the process to be repeated in 2016. The survey was anonymous and random to help ensure Council gathered the views of a representative cross section of the Circular Head community.

In terms of main priority services Council delivers, respondents provided a variety of responses.

“These ranged from the kerbside garbage and recycling collection service, rural sealed roads, roadside management–rural (e.g. trees, slashing, litter control), urban roads and the waste transfer station,” Mr Smart said.

“On the positive side, respondents indicated that it was the competence and friendliness of Council staff and the general appearance of the township that rated highly in their minds”

Mr Smart said it was also pleasing to see that the community was happy with the level of communication with the public and that they really felt well informed about what is happening.

“With these positives of course comes room for improvements, and respondents indicated we need to continue upgrades and maintenance of various sections of the municipal area (particularly roads and vegetation), and enticing new business,” Mr Smart said.

“Respondents also suggested Council continues its drive for more community consultation and involvement and that we need to keep improving in the areas of financial management and urban and rural land use planning.”

Mr Smart said moving forward, Council will take a strategic approach to continual improvement of our service delivery and will provide regular updates on our progress towards addressing some of the issues raised.

“I thank all those who took part in the survey and I look forward to seeing more people take part in the next survey, which will occur in 2016,” Mr Smart said.

The survey results are available in the Council office at 33 Goldie Street, Smithton online at www.circularhead.tas.gov.au/yoursay and other locations to be advised.