Northern Beaches Council’s complaints down after merger, but its still fourth last
REVEALED: The Northern Beaches Council has seen a significant drop in the number of complaints it has had since the area had three former councils. But it’s ranking across NSW isn’t quite as impressive.
Manly
Don't miss out on the headlines from Manly. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Iconic beach rock altered due to safety fears
- $4m childcare centre set to replace home
- Pasadena development plans get legal scrutiny
OFFICIAL complaints lodged to the Office of Local Government almost halved in the first year of the Northern Beaches Council.
In the 2016-17 year, 25 formal complaints were registered against the amalgamated council, compared to 48 complaints against the three former councils.
In 2015-16 Manly council recorded 26 complaints, Pittwater 12 and Warringah 10.
Mayor Michael Regan said it was a positive trend for his council.
“It is good to see complaints on the decline,” he said. “As the third-biggest council in the state, yet with the three former councils’ combined total being 48 and now it is only 25, I think is a good indication that things are slowly coming together.”
However, it was reflective of a statewide drop in complaints with the northern beaches the fourth most-complained about council in NSW, with the Central Coast Council topping the list at 32.
The most complaints were about misconduct but included land management, planning governance and enforcement services.
Cr Regan said it was an “interesting number” and “relatively low considering the extraordinary change undergone by the council through amalgamation”.
He said three of the top five were newly- amalgamated councils.
“That doesn’t come as a surprise necessarily, given the change going on in the community to adjust,” Cr Regan said.
“We as councillors and staff are working to ensure that we are being as transparent and accountable as possible to our community.
“One could argue the more transparent you are the more mistakes are highlighted and complained about.”
He said from July 1 all capital works and finances would be put on the council’s website in a bid to be more transparent.
Local Government Minister Gabrielle Upton released the annual council complaint statistics last week with 811 complaints received by the Office of Local Government
(OLG) against 120 councils — a 44 per cent reduction from the previous year.
“This decrease can be attributed to the NSW Government’s action to deal with
dysfunctional councils, introduction of measures to improve council performance,
sustainability and integrity, and the creation of new councils in 2016,” Ms Upton said.
“The NSW Government has taken action against incompetent councils including the most
complained about council in 2015-16 — Auburn Council — fuelled by the antics of Salim
Mehajer,” Ms Upton said.
THE COMPLAINTS:
The Northern Beaches Council’s 2016-2017 complaints by subject matter were:
— Misconduct by councils — 10
— Land use planning and development issues — 9
— Public land management — 7
— Mismanagement/maladministration — 6
— Enforcement and regulatory services — 6
— Financial management — 6
— Council governance — 5
— Customer service — 3
— Natural resource management — 3
— Other — 2
— Structural reform — 1
— Engineering services — 1
The Office of Local Government said the total complaint figures in the subject breakdown are often higher than the official complaint tally per council.
This is because single complaints often contain multiple keywords and single complaints often complain about multiple subject matters.