Noosa Council’s library service continues to lead the way, achieving the highest community satisfaction rating of all Council services. In contrast, parking has been identified as one of the areas most in need of improvement.
These are the findings of the latest Noosa Council Community Satisfaction Survey undertaken earlier this year.
CEO Larry Sengstock said the survey results offered valuable insights and opportunities for the organisation.
“It’s a great result for our libraries as this is the fourth survey in a row they have ranked as the service the Noosa community is most satisfied with,” Mr Sengstock said.
“It’s encouraging that our community feels our libraries, arts, culture, sport and recreation facilities and programs, plus our waste services are all performing extremely well.”
Performance scores of individual service ranged from 58 per cent to 99 per cent with 27 of the 50 areas a very high level of satisfaction at 80 per cent or above. Library services and Waste Management received the highest satisfaction scores of 99 per cent and 95 per cent, respectively, while the Community Places service dimension recorded the highest overall satisfaction at 88 per cent. In contrast, Parking Management and Local Laws enforcement were identified as the lowest performing areas at 58 per cent.
The survey found 79 per cent of the Noosa community were satisfied with Council’s overall performance over the past two years – which is equal to the 79 per cent average score for local councils in Queensland in 2024.
“The 14 per cent decline in satisfaction with Council’s overall performance from the last survey in 2021 shows we need to improve in some areas,” Mr Sengstock said.
“This reduced level of overall satisfaction is being seen by many local councils at a time of stretched resources and expanding needs.”
Council engaged Place Score to carry out its latest Community Satisfaction Survey. It was conducted digitally to provide a process that was easier, faster and more cost-effective than the traditional landline approach.
“While the new digital methodology meant trend results didn’t directly correlate to previous surveys, these latest results offer an indicative comparison and a new baseline for future surveys,” Mr Sengstock said.
“Importantly, the results can be used in conjunction with our Liveability survey outcomes.”
The areas in which the community expressed its lowest levels of satisfaction included enforcement and education of local laws, the provision and management of car parking, decision-making in the best interests of the community, and planning and development services.
The survey also sought to highlight the community’s top priorities – those service areas considered highly important yet performing at lower levels.
Findings indicate that residents want Council to place greater emphasis on road maintenance, management and communications, decision‑making, long‑term planning, and ensuring value for money in rates.
“These results will guide Council’s priorities to help ensure we are better meeting our community’s expectations over the next two years,” Mr Sengstock said.
The survey measured community satisfaction with Council’s performance across five key themes: management and communications, future planning, transportation and waste, community programs and services, and community places.
A total of 398 residents and ratepayers participated, representing a broad cross‑section of the shire’s population, with respondents ranging in age from 15 to over 65.
In addition to the core themes, the community highlighted strong performance in several other areas, including disaster management and recovery, playground provision and maintenance, beach and waterways services, and overall community wellbeing.
“In recent years our community has endured significant challenges, from the 2022 floods to Ex‑Tropical Cyclone Alfred and multiple severe weather events. It is reassuring to know that, despite these hardships, residents have confidence in Council’s ability to work hand‑in‑hand with local emergency services to deliver a coordinated and effective disaster response,” Mr Sengstock said.
Reponses to the survey also called for a more balanced, sustainable approach to development and tourism in Noosa that puts residents first, with key concerns being overcrowding from tourism, housing affordability, and the need for better infrastructure, maintenance, and local services.
“Work is well underway to develop a new Destination Management Plan (DMP) for Noosa, with significant input from the local community and we’re making strong headway into the actions of our housing strategy,” the CEO said.
“The results of all of this work should start to flow through to the community over the next two years and we will hopefully see that reflected in the results of the next survey.”
Council will undertake the survey again in 2026/2027.
