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Annual Customer Satisfaction Survey

Find out more about Yarra City Council's Annual Customer Satisfaction survey.

Yarra City Council is committed to best serving our community and using an evidence-based approach to improve Council services and operations. 
 
As part of this approach, each year we conduct an extensive survey of randomly selected households from Yarra to measure satisfaction levels with Council performance. This includes leadership and governance, our range of services and facilities, as well as determining emerging issues and priorities. 

The survey results are then used to inform our planning and operations. 

2025 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 2025 Annual Customer Satisfaction Survey was conducted in January and February 2024 by AEC Research. Surveys were done by telephone, online and face-to-face. This year, 800 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: 

  1. Good/Very good (%) 

  1. Average (%) 

  1. Poor/Very poor (%) 

The 2025 customer satisfaction survey results highlight the areas where Council is seen to be performing well along with several areas in need of improvement. 

2025 results 

Overall performance 

Satisfaction with Council's overall performance was classified 'very good' or 'good' by 39% of the respondents. Another 37% rated performance as 'average' and 24% of people rated performance as 'poor' or 'very poor'. These results are comparable to 2024. 

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 2025 were: 

Rank 

Service/facility 

Score (% rated 'very good')

1 

Local library services  

84%   

2 

 Regular garbage collection service  

76%  

3 

Yarra's swimming pool facilities at Richmond, Fitzroy and Collingwood  

76% 

4 

 Provision of parks, garden and reserves  

72%  

5 

Yarra’s leisure centres at Richmond, Fitzroy or Collingwood (e.g. Gym, etc) 

71%  

The 3 areas that were rated 'very good' or 'good' by the least number of residents were: 

  1. Traffic management (43 % very good or good) 

  1. Parking management (33 % very good or good) 

  1. Public toilets (33 % very good or good) 

Leadership and governance 

Generally, lower levels of community satisfaction were reported with Council's governance and leadership, including: 

  • Community engagement and consultation (36% 'very good' or 'good') 

  • Making decisions in the best interests of the community (36% 'very good' or 'good') 

  • Representation, lobbying and advocacy on behalf of the community (32% 'very good' or 'good') 

Customer Service 

Customer service received a satisfaction rating of 59% ('very good/good'). 

Perceptions of Safety 

Perceptions of safety were higher during the day than at night. While 71% of respondents reported feeling safe during the day, only 39% reported feeling safe at night. 

Top 3 issues in 2025 

Respondents were asked to nominate what they consider to be the top 3 issues for Yarra City Council. 

The top 3 issues identified in 2025 were: 

  1. Building, planning and housing development (noted by 13% of respondents) 

  1. Safety, policing and crime (noted by 7% of respondents) 

  1.  Car parking (noted by 7% of respondents) 

Improvements observed by residents in the last 2 years 

  • Green waste collection (observed by 10% of respondents) 

  • Parks, gardens, open space (observed by 10% of respondents) 

  • Bike, walking tracks and facilities (observed by 7% of respondents) 

Improvements our residents would most like to see in the future 

  • Parking (suggested by 13% of respondents) 

  • Bike tracks, facilities and infrastructure (suggested by 10% of respondents) 

  • Traffic Management (suggested by 10% of respondents) 

Read the full report 

For more information call Yarra City Council on 03 9205 5555 or email [email protected].