Improvements for the community
The community has spoken and we’ve listened, using feedback from our 2025 Annual Community Survey to drive improvements across the city, with more changes on the way.
The survey identified council services that the community rated as performing well – including the library, kerbside collections, parks and gardens and new playgrounds – while clearly identifying where improvements are needed.
The four areas with the lowest satisfaction scores were:
- Illegal dumping management
- City maintenance (trees, weeds, verges etc)
- Roads and footpaths
- City improvements (project delivery, economic development etc)
Here are the ways we’re already looking to improve in these areas:
- Illegal dumping management
- Promoting the various free ways to dispose of waste, helping people realise that not all waste disposal comes at a cost
- Conducting in-depth reviews of all waste management services and contracts to identify improvements
- Encouraging the community to play their part in keeping the city clean, starting with Clean-up Australia Day
- Introducing Enjoy Whyalla – a tagline / website to highlight all initiatives aimed at improving the look of the city
- City maintenance
- Investigating the possibility of increasing our outdoor crew numbers to tackle problem areas and better respond to customer requests, particularly weeds, mowing and trees
- City improvements
- Project delivery
- Civic Park playground and airport runway upgrades completed in 2025
- Foreshore Master Plan delivery about to commence
- Foreshore / tourism
- The tenders for construction contractors for the Splash Play Plaza have closed. It’s anticipated the successful contractor will be announced in the next few weeks, with work to start soon after
- Project delivery
- Roads and footpaths
- If we proceed with increasing outdoor crew numbers, they’ll be able to assist in addressing customer requests in relation to footpaths
Mayor Phill Stone said this feedback was invaluable to helping council better serve the community.
“Thank you to everyone in the community who gave us their feedback – the survey results have directly shaped our priorities and allowed us to act straight away to improve what’s most important to residents.” Mayor Stone said.
“It will continue to shape our focus over the next 12 months, so the community will notice ongoing improvements during that time.”
To read the full report with more details on the initiatives, check out page 151 onwards in this month’s Ordinary Council Meeting agenda; as well as page 45 onwards from the December 2025 Ordinary Council Meeting agenda for more details on the survey results.