Lake Macquarie City Council

Community Consultation

Lake Macquarie City Council biannually undertakes a Community Survey to gauge community satisfaction and attitudes to three main areas.

Micromex has been commissioned to conduct this research for the past 6 years.

What were the objectives?

Specific objectives included but were not limited to, identifying the:

• Core attributes of the Lake Macquarie City Council local government area as a place to live
• Importance of, and satisfaction with, the services provided by Lake Macquarie City Council
• Service and communication between Lake Macquarie City Council and the community

What was the biggest challenge?

Providing Council with actionable data across a broad range of 40 plus service groups requires critical survey development and reporting procedures. Trending the results to analyse changes from previous years is critical to maximise the value of the research.

Methodologies utilised:

Micromex utilised a range of methodologies for this project. These included:

• In depth face to face interviews
• Telephone surveys – 1,000 in total
• Face to face surveys – Flora Festival

Gosford-Wyong Councils’ Water Authority

Central Coast Community Consultation

With dam levels at an all time low the Gosford-Wyong Councils’ Water Authority contracted Micromex to undertake the research necessary for their short and long term water supply planning.

What were the objectives?

Specific objectives included but were not limited to:

• Identification of knowledge gaps regarding future and current water supply options
• Analysis of specific attitudes to, and preferences/support for, competing water supply options. These included:
  • Increasing the capacity of the existing water supply system
  • Water recycling, grey water and its expanded implementation
  • The increased use of groundwater
  • The development and usage of desalination plants
  • Water saving initiatives
  • Other suggested options
• Identification of the level of expected community consultation regarding water supply planning
• Workshopping of specific education strategies for the community

What was the biggest challenge?

As any organisation knows, planning for unknown or changeable future events is difficult. The challenge for Micromex was to develop a methodology that allowed for annual trending analysis and analysis contingent on possible unforseen environmental effects.

Methodologies utilised:

Micromex utilised a range of methodologies for this project. These included:

• In depth face to face interviews
• Focus groups
• Telephone surveys – broad based quantitative community research
• Face to face surveys – Flora Festival