Yarra City Council is committed to best serving our community and using an evidence-based approach to improve Council services and operations.
Each year we conduct an extensive survey of households in Yarra to measure satisfaction levels with Council performance, including leadership and governance and our range of services and facilities, as well as determining emerging issues and priorities.
Participating households are randomly selected from across the municipality. These survey results are used to inform our planning and operations.
2023 process
Council's customer satisfaction survey process follows best-practice research standards and is in line with Local Government Victoria's annual community satisfaction survey. This enables better comparative analysis of Yarra's results across the local government sector.
The latest Annual Customer Satisfaction Survey (PDF 3.50 MB) was conducted from February to March 2023 by AEC Research. Surveys were done by telephone, online and face-to-face. This year, 804 households participated in the survey.
Respondents were asked to rate their level of satisfaction on a scale of 1 to 5. These scores are presented as a percentage across the following 3 categories:
- Good/Very good (%)
- Average (%)
- Poor/Very poor (%)
2023 results
Overall performance
Satisfaction with Council's overall performance was classified 'very good' or 'good' by 37% of the respondents. Another 37% rated performance as 'average' and 26% of people rated performance as 'poor' or 'very poor'. These results are comparable to 2022.
The 2023 customer satisfaction survey results highlight the areas where Council is seen to be performing well along with several areas in need of improvement. See Figure 1.
Services and facilities
Yarra's services and facilities rated favourably with many rated as 'very good' or 'good' by more than half of surveyed residents.
Our 5 highest rated services and facilities in 2023 were:
| Rank | Service/facility | Score (% rated 'very good' or 'good' |
| 1 | Local library services | 82% |
| 2 | Yarra's swimming pool facilities at Richmond, Fitzroy and Collingwood | 72% |
| 3 | Yarra's leisure centre and gym facilities at Richmond, Fitzroy and Collingwood | 71% |
| 4 | Yarra's provision of parks, gardens and reserves | 69% |
| 5 | Yarra's regular garbage collection service | 68% |
The 3 areas that were rated 'very good' or 'good' by the least number of residents were:
- Traffic management (41% very good or good)
- Parking management (37% very good or good)
- Public toilets (37% very good or good)
Leadership and governance
Generally, lower levels of community satisfaction were reported with Council's governance and leadership, including:
- Making decisions in the best interests of the community (33% 'very good' or 'good')
- Community engagement and consultation (31% 'very good' or 'good')
- Lobbying and advocacy on behalf of the community (32% 'very good' or 'good')
Customer Service
Satisfaction with customer service was rated above average with 55% rating customer service as 'very good/good'.
Perceptions of Safety
Perceptions of safety were higher during the day than at night. While 80% of respondents reported feeling safe during the day, only 43% reported feeling safe at night.
Top 3 issues in 2023
Respondents were asked to nominate what they consider to be the top 3 issues for Yarra City Council.
The top 3 issues identified in 2023 were:
- Building, planning and housing development (noted by 11% of respondents)
- Car parking (noted by 8% of respondents)
- Rubbish and waste issues, including garbage (noted by 7% of respondents)
Improvements observed by residents in the last 2 years
- Parks, gardens and open space (observed by 11% of respondents)
- Bike/walking tracks and facilities (observed by 8% of respondents)
- Road maintenance and repairs (observed by 5% of respondents)
Improvements our residents would most like to see in the future
- Bike tracks, facilities and infrastructure (suggested by 13% of respondents)
- Parking (suggested by 12% of respondents)
- Garbage collection (suggested by 11% of respondents)
Read the full report
Download the full 2023 Annual Customer Satisfaction Report (PDF 3.50 MB).
For more information call Yarra City Council on 03 9205 5555 or email [email protected].