Sealed roads and river health top community concerns in 2024 Council survey Nambucca Valley Nambucca Valley - popup ad Nambucca Valley News by News Of The Area - Modern Media - May 16, 2024 River Water Quality was again one of the top two areas where Council should be prioritising their efforts according to the results of the 2024 Community Satisfaction Survey. THE results are in for the 2024 Nambucca Valley Council-commissioned ‘Community Satisfaction Survey’, based on the responses of 400 residents by telephone in February 2024. Topping the list of items that respondents believed should be a priority for Council were ‘Sealed Roads’ and ‘River Water Quality’. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone us – (02) 4981 8882. Email us – media@newsofthearea.com.au Closely behind these were ‘Waste and Recycling’ and ‘Water Supply’. Overall, the survey showed that respondents’ levels of satisfaction with Council and its services had fallen, however, the Nambucca Valley Council fared better on this account than most other regional councils in NSW. ‘Sealed Roads’ and ‘River Water Quality’ were areas that the community considered the least satisfactory in Nambucca Valley, and respondents prioritised these aspects for council service and improvement. In 2021, almost a carbon copy of this survey was presented to the same number of respondents with similar results. In 2021 and 2024 the item which garnered the lowest number of satisfactory responses was ‘Unsealed Roads’. In 2024 this was closely followed by ‘Development Applications’. Most respondents felt the highest level of satisfaction with ‘Libraries’ and ‘Water Supply’ – although the latter was a priority for urban residents, as many rural areas are on tank water. “There was a very large increase from 2021 to 2024 in how much ‘Economic development and attracting new investment’ was valued by residents,” said Taverner Research Group (TRG) when summarising the main points gleaned from the survey. The Council got the tick of approval for customer service with this one of the rare gains of this year’s survey. “More customers in 2024 rated their most recent interaction as four or five out of five (56 percent) compared to 2021 (44 percent),” said TRG. Women respondents were more concerned with ‘Street cleanliness’ than males and significantly, more than 70 percent of all residents felt it was important for Council to spend more to improve the network of cycling and walking paths in the Valley. This survey cost ratepayers $24,900 and was conducted by Sydney-based Taverner Research Group. By Ned COWIE
