AN annual survey of ratepayers has rated Kingston Council’s performance as “above average” compared to other councils across Victoria.
Council says 400 randomly selected households throughout the Kingston municipality were contacted by JWS Research in February and March to gauge views on key areas including waste management, arts centres, libraries and recreational facilities.
The mayor Cr Steve Staikos said council attained an overall performance score of 64, above the statewide average of 59.
Two-thirds of those surveyed believe council “is heading in the right direction”, with residents aged 18 to 34-years-old the most satisfied with council’s performance, and residents in South Ward giving council the highest rating for customer service.
“We always want to learn which areas we can improve on and it’s vital that we hear from our community to ensure we can make changes where necessary,” Cr Staikos said.
Council’s lowest three performance service areas were for planning and building permits, planning for population growth and decisions made in the interest of the community.
“Community concerns over planning in local neighbourhoods have been felt across Melbourne for a number of years and illustrate the challenges local councils face in balancing demand for housing supply in a time of population growth with community expectations,” Cr Staikos said.
“While many people would like to see less development, councils can only assess planning applications against Victorian Planning laws.
“Kingston Council is working to strengthen protection of our local suburbs and we’re currently putting together a Neighbourhood Character Strategy, Housing Strategy and Car Parking Strategy to tackle these issues head-on.”
First published in the Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News – 11 July 2018