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Satisfaction results for south Northamptonshire published
24-Jun-2009
Nearly 90 per cent of residents are happy with South Northamptonshire as a place to live.
That’s the message from the first ever national Place Survey published today. This ranks the district as 11th nationally.
More than 90 per cent of people are happy with the homes they live in, with 68 per cent feeling that they belong to their local neighbourhood. This ranks South Northamptonshire Council 31 out of 352 councils.
In September 2008 randomly selected residents had the chance to express their opinions about aspects of quality of life in their local area - such as community safety and local services.
Residents also feel (88 per cent) that people from different backgrounds get on well together and people treat each other with respect and consideration.
Compared to a similar survey in 2006, fewer people feel level of crime, health services and cultural facilities need improving. However, residents continue to be concerned that there is not enough for teenagers to do and although there has been an increase in the level of activities, this continues to be a priority for partnership working.
How satisfied people are with South Northamptonshire Council services show a mixture of increases and decreases, many of which reflect the national trend:
• The satisfaction with the way the Council runs things has decreased from 59 per cent to 43.5 per cent, a trend that is reflected across Northamptonshire, and nationally.
• Some service areas such as refuse and recycling remain at high satisfaction 76 per cent.
• Others have shown some decrease, in particular keeping land clear of litter and refuse, down 13 per cent to 59 per cent.
• Satisfaction with sports and leisure facilities down 17 per cent to 42 per cent.
Satisfaction results for South Northamptonshire published today/2
The findings will be used to see how well South Northamptonshire Council and its partners such as the police, fire and health authorities are doing at delivering the services that matter most to residents and to decide what needs to be done differently in future.
These findings are reflected in the Council’s priorities for this coming year in terms of preserving high levels of satisfaction with the area as a place to live, as well as improving public transport, addressing affordable housing and increasing activities for teenagers.
Councillor Sandra Barnes, Leader of South Northamptonshire Council, said:
“We are very grateful to all the residents who took the time to complete their questionnaire. This first ever independent place survey has some encouraging news for our district and it also shows us where we need to do more work. The results are very important as they give us some vital feedback to work with - for the first time we have residents’ views on what they think about the place they live and how well public services work together in local areas.
“The challenge is to work closer with our partners and local people to keep satisfaction levels high for South Northamptonshire as a great place to live.”
Leader of Northamptonshire County Council, Councillor Jim Harker said: “It is clear from these results that the recession is a big concern for people in the county and we are all determined to do what we can to help the county through these challenging times.
“We now need to go through the detail of this to make sure we are delivering on those areas of most importance to people and improving those services they say need most improvement.”
Across the whole of the county residents also said they are being hit hard by the recession. The results show 46 per cent of residents say their economic wellbeing has got worse over the last year with 48 per cent saying they believed it will get worse over the next three years.