Tweed Shire Council ranked as an ‘above average performer’
18 December 2019
Survey of residents shows 97 per cent rate Tweed’s quality of life as good to excellent
Tweed Shire Council has been ranked as an above average performer after receiving the results of the 2019 ‘Be Our Best’ Resident Survey.
The statistically representative survey - conducted by Independent research consultants, Micromex - was designed to understand the community’s priorities and gauge their satisfaction in relation to Council activities, services and facilities.
Ninety-seven per cent of residents surveyed rate their overall quality of life on the Tweed as good to excellent, greater than the regional benchmarks for other NSW local government areas.
“Our natural environment, open spaces, climate and beaches were what residents most valued about living in the Tweed,” Mayor of Tweed, Councillor Katie Milne said.
When asked about the next 10 years, residents identified the greatest priorities as:
• maintaining and upgrading the local road network
• managing population growth and development
• ensuring there are adequate resources and facilities (including sufficient water) to cater for growth.
“Our community is telling us they want to ensure that their high quality of life is not impacted as the Tweed grows and they want Council to plan for our collective future with that in mind,” she said.
The survey results showed that 87 per cent of residents surveyed were satisfied with overall performance of Council over the last 12 months, with nine per cent very satisfied, 43 per cent satisfied and 35 per cent somewhat satisfied.
Council was an above average performer against the Micromex local government area benchmark in 30 of 37 comparable services or facilities. These included:
• engagement with key groups of people (85 per cent compared to 69 per cent)
• opportunity to participate in Council decision making (77 per cent / 64 per cent)
• maintaining footpaths (79 per cent / 67 per cent)
• overall condition of the local sealed road network (69 per cent / 58 per cent).
“Council is pleased with these results but there are, of course, areas for improvement. We will work over the coming months to better understand the results and plan actions to improve our performance in these priority areas,” Cr Milne said.
Council will conduct this survey again in 2021.
For more information visit www.yoursaytweed.com.au/BeOurBest
Methodology: The survey was conducted by Micromex Research and Consulting in August 2019. Micromex interviewed 402 residents from across 65 local suburbs in urban, coastal and rural areas of the Tweed via telephone and weighted the sample by age and gender to reflect the 2016 ABS Census data for the Tweed Shire. Ninety per cent of respondents were selected by a random computer based process using the electronic White Pages and SamplePages. The final 10 per cent of respondents were recruited via face-to-face intercept at a number of locations around the Tweed: Tweed City Shopping Centre, Sunnyside Shopping Centre Murwillumbah, Arkinstall Park/Sporting complexes, Kingscliff Shopping Village and Pottsville IGA.