2025 Community Satisfaction Survey
Central Goldfields Shire Council has published the results of the 2025 Community Satisfaction Survey.
Held annually, the survey asks the opinions of local people about the place they live, work and play and provides confidence for councils in their efforts and abilities.
Council sincerely thanks the 400 people who participated in the phone questionnaire during February and March.
The survey report notes that ratings for most service areas evaluated are in line with last year’s performance.
“Notably, ratings have significantly increased for Council’s lowest performing service area, sealed local roads. This represents a positive result for Council and a partial recovery after a three-year period of significant declines in this area,” the report says.
A tailored question on sealed roads of concern indicated that most are state roads.
The worst rating was given to the Ballarat-Maryborough Road, with 9% of people expressing concern.
Council will continue to advocate for improvements to state roads in our Shire.
Council’s index score of 48 for overall performance remains lower than both the statewide and Small Rural group averages, providing a focus for improvement.
The exception was waste management, where Council’s index score of 67 is in line with the statewide and Small Rural group averages.
The preferred form of communication from Council about news, information and upcoming events is a Council newsletter sent via mail (28%). Preference for this form of communication has decreased by five percentage points in the last year.
The next preferred form of communication from Council is a newsletter sent via email (18%), up six percentage points from 2024. This has been the greatest change in communications preferences in 2025.
“Thank you to everybody who participated in the community satisfaction survey.
We’re pleased that our parks, waste management and customer service teams have been recognised for their efforts.
There’s room for improvements across the board and we’ll be focused on these in the lead-up to next year’s survey and beyond.
In relation to roads, I ask people to please be aware that certain roads are the responsibility of the State Government (see https://www.centralgoldfields.vic.gov.au/stateroads).
We’ll continue to work on improving our local roads and we’ll advocate to the state for safer and better roads that are their responsibility.”
https://www.centralgoldfields.vic.gov.au/Whats-Happening/Latest-News/Media-Releases/2025-Community-Satisfaction-Survey