Newcastle Partnerships' community survey finds there is no place for party politics at Newcastle council and the Ocean Baths restoration and pools maintenance are most crucial to voters

That's the conclusion of a survey of 515 people run by business and community group Newcastle Partnerships in June.

Newcastle Partnerships spokesman Kevin Coffey said the group that formed out of the ashes of business improvement association Newcastle Now - that controversially had its funding stripped and was terminated by council in 2018 - hoped the survey would spark debate in the lead-up to the local government elections planned for December.

The group includes outspoken council critics former Hamilton Chamber of Commerce head Nathan Errington and former Newcastle Now chair Edward Duc.

Mr Coffey said the survey was distributed through community groups and via social media.

"We initially had 550 responses, but that was culled to 515 to include only people working or living in the Newcastle local government area," he said.

"We didn't promote it or sell it. It's something you can look at as a true echo of the community. We're hoping the candidates might actually listen to the responses."

The majority of people, 58 per cent, said they strongly agreed or agreed that party politics was not relevant in local government, 14 per cent had no opinion and 28 per cent strongly disagreed.

Newcastle council's make-up has seen the dominant narrative over the past four years remain the battle between Labor councillors on one side, and the Newcastle Independents on the other.

The bitter divide has seen the council act as a de facto parliamentary system in the chamber, with lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes' Labor bloc ruling and the Newcastle Independents casting themselves as an opposition party.

Mr Coffey said the survey offered an opportunity for councillors and the council to reflect on what the community wanted.

He said Newcastle Partnerships was formed earlier this year in an effort to offer business and community groups a voice, and it had no formal leadership or membership structure, but had quickly gained 8770 Facebook followers.

"We'd like to believe that you don't have to be in politics to change the landscape a little," he said.

"We thought it would be useful to get some actual data from the community and not rely on spin or anecdotal data. The aim was to start a conversation that should happen before people go to the polls."

According to the survey, the issues voters felt most strongly about were the heritage restoration of Newcastle Ocean Baths, 93 per cent agreed, and the maintenance of community pools, 92 per cent agreed.

The Newcastle Herald reported last month a 69 per cent underspend on pools in the financial year up to May.

In response, deputy mayor Declan Clausen said it would be "irresponsible" of the council to spend "millions" on an upgrade of Lambton pool while a new aquatic facility could be built at Broadmeadow.

On the controversial issue of the Newcastle 500 Supercars event, 60 per cent of people said it was not good for the city, 28 per cent said it was great and 12 per cent had no opinion.

Survey participants made a push for more cycleways in the local government area and 70 per cent said they were not happy with the condition of roads and footpaths.

The Newcastle Herald reported in January that council's budgets and financial statements revealed it originally planned to spend a combined $12.68 million on cycleways between 2015-16 and 2019-20, but only actually spent $6.95 million.

Only 21 per cent of voters said they were happy with the information City of Newcastle provides it constituents, while 57 per cent were unhappy. I

n March, the council unanimously passed a motion moved by Greens Cr John Mackenzie to conduct a review of policies used by other councils to ensure transparency following criticism of the way City of Newcastle dealt with freedom of information requests.

Expansion of Newcastle Art Gallery was important to 74 per cent of survey participants and 58 per cent of people said they wanted better value for money for rates paid, while 17 per cent disagreed.

Most of the respondents, or 64 per cent, were women and 54 per cent were aged between 45 and 64.

Mr Coffey said one of the biggest challenges was gauging the views of people aged 18 to 29, after only a handful took part in the survey.

He said the survey gave the community a "chance to speak".

"The system isn't working to the best advantage of the residents," he said.

"Our reason for being is to try and reflect what the community would like and give them a voice, or form the choir.

"We're not about a hierarchy, we want things to be open and transparent and for the community to be involved. The community is being ignored in a lot of areas and we want people to be heard."

IN THE NEWS

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: