How Liveable is Lane Cove? Depends on Which Report You Read

Lane Cove Locals may have seen an article in today’s (27 November 2022) online edition of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Sun Herald by Andrew Taylor reporting on a recent study conducted by Neighbourlytics that reveals Paramatta offers a better quality of life than Lane Cove.  The article refers to Neighbourlytics State of Australian Neighbourhoods report.

The article notes:

“Living in Sydney’s western suburbs offers a higher quality of life than parts of the more affluent north shore, according to a survey on urban activity.

Penrith (80.3), Bankstown (79.8) and Parramatta (73.6) outscored Lane Cove (52.9) and Ryde (49.3), with Rouse Hill in The Hills Shire trailing with an urban life score of 45.8.

Inner-city Surry Hills (88.5), Green Square (82.5) and Leichhardt (82.3) topped the rankings compiled by social analytics company Neighbourlytics as part of its State of Australian Neighbourhoods report.”  You can read the entire article here.

In the Cove has not been able to obtain a copy of the State of Australian Neighbourhoods report.

Neighbourlytics findings are in direct contrast to the 2021 Australian Liveability Census.  This census was conducted by Place Score between March and June 2021.  Residents gave Lane Cove Council the highest score of any Local Government Area (76/100).

 

Lane Cove Council recently released its consumer satisfaction survey.

Mayor Andrew Zbik, on his website, summarised the survey process and results as follows:

“Each year Council undertakes a Customer Satisfaction Survey which aims to understand and identify the community’s satisfaction with Council’s performance across various service areas including planning and development, maintenance of roads and footpaths, parks and open space, and community services and facilities in accordance with Council Community Strategic Plan. It also identifies the community’s overall level of satisfaction with Council performance and analyses the community’s contact with Council and satisfaction with Council’s customer service. This year Council achieved an overall satisfaction index of 6.90 against a target of 7.”

This survey only focuses on Lane Cove Council’s performance and not livability however, Lane Cove Council’s performance impacts livability.

Neighbourlitics Report

The Lane Cove Council Score was 52.9.

Neighbourlytics are an urban tech company providing urban life data to the property industry and government.  They are not a market survey company.

“On their website, they explain urban life data as:

“Neighbourlytics’ technology specialises in measuring urban life. Urban life refers to how places are used, occupied, experienced and valued. It looks at where people connect, create enterprise, meet with friends, visit points of interest, participate in culture and social life.

What It Is?

Urban life is about behaviour,  lifestyle and the everyday activity that goes on in a neighbourhood. It encompasses local businesses and community groups, attractions and events, hospitality and socialising, hobbies and family life. ”

What it isn’t

Urban life measures what people do, not what they say they’ll do. That’s because our demographic doesn’t predict our behaviour. Nor do surveys – what we do is often more accurate than what we say we are going to do. It’s also different from land use. Urban life measures how places are used, not their zoning.”

Neighbourlytics sources digital data attributes from a range of publicly available, third party sources that are reflective of behaviour and lifestyle.

It’s hard to compare the Lane Cove Council area with Paramatta City Council as Paramatta is a Central Business District.  The Paramatta City Council website notes:

“The significance of the Parramatta CBD has been recognised in the State Government’s strategic planning framework for a number of decades. Its current recognition at the heart of the ‘Central City’ in the Greater Sydney Region Plan – A Metropolis of three cities and the Central City District Plan continue to strengthen the significant economic function of the Parramatta CBD and its role in providing necessary housing, employment, recreation and cultural opportunities.”

2021 Australian Liveability Census

The Lane Cove Council score was 76 compared to an Australian-wide average of 68.

On its website Place Score states:

“Place Score was developed to help government and the private sector with instant access to the values of your community and the performance of your places.

We offer human-centric data that is rigorous, representative and place-based. We measure what matters so you can make the decisions that most benefit your community.”

Lane Cove Council participated as a Distribution Organisation in Place Score’s 2021 Liveability Census, which was promoted as Australia’s largest community-led social research project, revealing trends, values and performance data regarding livability.

Lane Cove Council was among 44 councils that participated. Other organisations, such as OzHarvest and GoGet participated.  The survey was promoted on Lane Cove’s website and social media.  More than 30,000 people around Australia completed the survey, including 10,766 in NSW.   In the Lane Cove Council area, 639 locals completed the survey.

 

 

Lane Cove residents rated Lane Cove as high for sustainable urban design.  However, Lane Cove was rated low for ease of driving and parking.

Lane Cove Council Customer Service Satisfaction Survey

Lane Cove Council’s overall satisfaction index was 6.90.

A telephone survey of 400 Lane Cove residents was conducted to ascertain Lane Cove Council’s customer satisfaction survey.  While this may be a statistically valid sample size, it’s interesting to note that North Sydney Council surveys 400 residents and 200 local businesses.

The survey follows the format of the Community Strategic Plan.  The touchpoints for many people with Lane Cove Council are its customer service section and website.  This is such an important topic that some councils have a stand-alone survey on customer service.

Willoughby City Council uses the same market research company as Lane Cove Council and encourages its residents also to complete an online survey for those who were not contacted.  ITC has noticed that other NSW councils have adopted this approach.  Should Lane Cove Council be doing more to ascertain community feedback?

In Victoria, every council uses the same questionnaire to ascertain customer feedback.

Before the last election, ITC conducted a survey, and a summary of the results are here, which differ from the results in the Micromax survey in relation to dealing with Lane Cove Council.  Read more here.

Extract from ITC Survey:

If you raised an issue or problem with Lane Cove Council, how did they go about resolving it?

Only 30% of the respondents were either satisfied or very satisfied with the way Lane Cove Council handled an issue.

Urban Living Index

In 2015 the Urban Taskforce (a property developer lobby group) released the Urban Living Index.  It was promoted as a measure of how liveable Sydney’s suburbs are. For an area to be deemed liveable, multiple aspects are considered: affordability, community, employment, amenities, and accessibility.  The Lane Cove Council area did not rate well – and was not in the top 20 Sydney Suburbs.  Paramatta ranked higher than Lane Cove.  In the Cove has not been able to find an update to this index.

 

Which Survey Has the Most Accurate Data?

Both companies use different methodologies.  Neighbourlytics uses “proprietary technology that combines cutting edge data science with world-leading and research-backed Urban Life expertise to provide you with actionable insights into the human side of neighbourhoods.”

Place Score  “transforms community opinion into data-driven evidence to unlock the power of your places.”

We know that each company is in the business of selling data and data driven platforms.

The Lane Cove Council customer satisfaction survey has not evolved it uses the same questions that it has used for a number of years.  The survey is not as diverse as surveys conducted by other NSW councils.

We do know that Lane Cove residents don’t agree with Tom Glesson’s 2017 statement that Lane Cove is boring (read more here), which he repeated in 2022.

SYDNEY! Hard Quiz Live is at the Concourse Theatre Chatswood this week. Thursday (limited tix), Friday (SOLD OUT), Saturday (tix available). I hope no one from Lane Cove turns up … pic.twitter.com/QZUFLnxEic

— Tom Gleeson (@nonstoptom) July 4, 2022

COVER PHOTO:  Our Cover Photo is Lane Cove enjoying the Food and Wine Festival By the River in beautiful Burns Bay Reserve.

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