Parks and gardens High Ovals and sporting facilities Provision of public toilets Moderately high Playgrounds/play equipment Support for volunteer organisations Moderate Council provision of local community events Aquatic centre Library services Services and facilities for older people Recreation/Performing Arts Centre Community centres and community halls Moderately low Youth facilities Importance – by age Residents aged 25-34 and 85+ rated ‘library services’ significantly higher in importance, whereas residents aged 55-74 rated it significantly lower. Residents aged 65-84 assigned a significantly higher of importance to ‘youth facilities’. Residents aged 65+ rated ‘services and facilities’ significantly higher in importance, however, residents aged 35-44 rated it significantly lower. Residents aged 65-74 and 85+ attributed significantly higher levels of importance to ‘support for volunteer organisations’, and those aged 65-74 also assigned higher importance to ‘parks and gardens’. Residents aged 35-44 rated ‘playgrounds/play equipment’ and ‘aquatic centre’ significantly higher in importance, whereas those aged 55-64 and 75-84 rated ‘playgrounds/play equipment’ significantly lower. Residents aged 65-74 assigned a significantly level of importance to ‘ovals and sporting facilities’. Importance – by gender Females ascribed significantly higher levels of importance to ‘library services’, ‘community centres and community halls’, ‘emergency services’, ‘support for volunteer organisations’, ‘Council provision of local community events’, ‘lighting of public areas’, ‘provision of public toilets’, ‘parks and gardens’, and ‘recreation/Performing Arts Centre’. Importance – compared to 2012 ‘Provision of public toilets’, ‘playgrounds/play equipment’, ‘aquatic centre’, ‘library services’, ‘services and facilities for older people’, ‘recreation/Performing Arts Centre’, and ‘youth facilities’ were significantly higher in importance compared to 2012. Creating Vibrant Communities Satisfaction – overall Very high Library services Emergency services High Community centres and community halls Ovals and sporting facilities Moderately high Council provision of community events Support for volunteer organisations Parks and gardens Playgrounds/play equipment Youth facilities Services and facilities for older people
Residents aged 65+ ascribed significantly higher levels of importance to ‘traffic parking enforcement’ and ‘range of shopping facilities’, whilst those aged 45-54 rated the ‘range of shopping facilities’ significantly lower. Residents aged 65-84 rated ‘overall zoning of the Shire’ significantly higher in importance, whereas those aged 18-24 rated it significantly lower. Residents aged 55-74 and 85+ ‘protection of heritage values and buildings’ significantly higher in importance. Residents aged 55+ attributed a significantly higher level of importance to ‘low density housing developments’, however, those aged 18-24 rated this service area significantly lower. Residents aged 65+ assigned a significantly higher level of importance to ‘streetscape appearance’, whilst those aged 18-24 assigned a significantly lower level of importance to the service area. Residents aged 65-74 ‘health inspections of food premises, hairdressers, etc’ significantly higher in importance. Residents aged 65+ ascribed a significantly higher level of importance to ‘pet and animal management/control’. Importance – by gender Females ‘maintaining condition of residential (local) roads’, ‘maintaining condition of footpaths and cycleways’, ‘traffic parking enforcement’, ‘range of shopping facilities’, ‘protection of heritage values and buildings’, ‘streetscape appearance’, ‘health inspections of food premises, hairdressers, etc’, and ‘pet and animal management/control’ significantly more important. Importance – compared to 2012 ‘Medium density housing developments’ was rated significantly higher in importance compared to 2012. Balanced Growth Satisfaction – overall Very high Range of shopping facilities Moderately high Pet and animal management/control Protection of heritage values and buildings Health inspections of food premises, hairdressers, etc Streetscape appearance Moderate Overall zoning of the Shire Maintaining condition of footpaths and cycleways Maintaining condition of residential roads Low density housing developments Traffic parking enforcement Medium density housing developments Satisfaction – by age Residents aged 75+ were significantly more satisfied with ‘maintaining condition of residential roads’, whereas those aged 45-54 were significantly less satisfied with this service area. Residents aged 18-24 found ‘traffic parking enforcement’ and ‘overall zoning of the Shire’ significantly more satisfactory.
Council’s financial management Long term planning for The Shire Image and presentation of Council information Access to your local Councillor Contribution to Overall Satisfaction with Council (Regression Data) Council’s performance in the areas below accounts for over 49% of overall satisfaction, based on the regression analysis. Proactive Leadership Note: The hierarchal sorting of each graph is relative to the criteria’s importance mean ratings. 2014 2012 4.52 4.39 4.32 4.34 4.40 4.32 4.38 4.31 4.37 4.30 4.22 3.89 3.70 3.79
Preferred Method for Conducting Council Related Business Summary Residents’ predominantly mentioned preferences for conducting their Council related business were ‘online’ (45%), followed by ‘telephone’ (39%) – both of these were significantly lower than in 2012. Residents aged 75+ were significantly more likely to conduct Council related business ‘by mail’. Residents aged 65-84 were significantly more likely to select ‘in person at Administration Centre’. Those aged 18-24 were significantly more likely to choose ‘online’, whilst those aged 65-84 were significantly less likely to use this method. Q1. How would you prefer to conduct your Council related business? ▼▲= significantly (by year) Count Email 15 Post office 2 Village office 1
Agreement with the statement ‘I feel safe moving in public spaces in The Hills at night’ has significantly increased compared to 2012, whereas the statements ‘I feel safe moving about in public spaces in The Hills during the day’, ‘I prefer to shop in my local community’, and ‘in an emergency a family member or friend is available to assist me in the local area’ have significantly declined. Residents aged 65-84 were significantly more likely to agree with the statement ‘I feel there is economic opportunity in The Hills Shire’, whereas they were significantly less likely to agree with the statements ‘I feel safe moving about in public spaces in The Hills at night’ and ‘The Hills Shire is a good place to raise children’ than were all other age groups. Residents aged 18-24 rated ‘in an emergency a family member or friend is available to assist me in the local area’ significantly higher in agreement. Q5. How strongly do you or disagree with the following statements? 2014 2012 2010 4.62 4.63 N/A 4.56 N/A N/A 4.67 4.51 4.52 N/A 4.27 4.21 4.29 4.26 4.63 N/A 4.40 4.34 4.04 3.97 N/A 3.67 3.58 3.76 N/A N/A Base: n = 1,009 Scale: 1= strongly disagree, 5= strongly agree ▼▲= significantly lower/higher (by year) Sustainability in the Shire Summary 49% of residents indicated that in order to be more sustainable they bulk buy to reduce package waste. The utilisation of ‘solar power’ (29%) has significantly increased since 2012. Residents aged 65-84 were less likely to be ‘bulk buying to reduce package in order to be more sustainable. Residents aged 65-74 were more likely to use ‘compost or worm farm’ to be more sustainable. Residents aged 35-44 were more likely to ‘recycle water’, however, were less likely to use a ‘water tank’ than were all other age groups. aged 75-84 were less likely to ‘recycle water’. Q9. Which of the following, if any, do you have, or do at home in relation to being more sustainable? ▼▲= significantly lower/higher (by year) 4.54
Travel Time to Place of Employment Summary On average, residents approximately travel an hour to and from work; the duration of travel has declined since 2012. Males travel significantly longer to and from work. Q10d. On average, how many minutes does it take you in total to travel to and from your usual work place? 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64+ 65-74 75-84 85+ Average minutes 55.6 62.6 73.5 59.6 55.6 49.3 40.1 N/A Male Female Overall 2014 Overall 2012 Average minutes 70.0▲ 54.3 61.9▼ 69.0 ▼▲= significantly lower/higher (by year) Suggested Improvements for Public Transport Q10e. How do you think public transport can be improved and in what time frame? Note: As the percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole number, the criteria with counts of 4 or less are shown as 0%. For the detailed list please see Appendix Suggested improvements Time frame % N = 997 Increased frequency of bus/train services – peak hour, later at night, off-peak, weekends, school hours, to the CBD As soon as possible 24% Within a year 9% Within the next 5 years 2% Within two 2% Within the next 2-4 years 1% Within the next 5-10 years 0% In time with new train line 0% Within 2 years 0% Within the next 20 years 0% No improvements necessary 20% Extended public transport services – train, bus, light rail As soon as possible 4% Within a year 2% Within the next 5 years 1% Within the next 5-10 years 1% Within two 1% Within the next 2-4 years 0% Train line in progress, no other suggestions As soon as possible 3% In the proposed timeframe (2017) 0%