The City of Tea Tree Gully Council in South Australia recently conducted, what it believes to be, one of the largest and most comprehensive community surveys in Local Government in recent years.
The survey, which contained 98 questions, was sent out to every household in December 2001 within the Tea Tree Gully district. Residents were given until February 2002 to reply.
“To ensure a broad spread of age and gender, the person with the most recent birthday living in the household was asked to respond,” said Council’s Executive Manager, Marketing, Jim Myhill. “We received 5,700 plus responses from a possible 37,500 households – a very pleasing reply rate of over 15 per cent.
“The results were very illuminating,” he said. “The community showed a strong affiliation with environmental issues and were, in general, very positive about Council and Council’s role with respect to our environment.”
The survey results will be used to refine Council’s waste strategy as, through the survey, residents expressed their desire and support for a separate green bin for garden waste.
“We can look at the data in a number of ways: in total, by ward, by gender or a combination of categories,” Jim Myhill said. “This gives us the opportunity to establish where the issues may be confined to. Because of our large sample size, breaking down the data in this way still allows for representative samples to be used.
“The survey gives the community the chance to have their say about a number of very important issues that concern them. Because of the large sample and response rate, it has provided a very accurate view of the opinions of the community and, as such, will be used as an important part of our planning for the future of our City.”
For further information, contact Jim Myhill on (08) 8397 7444.
