Residents in Denbighshire were given a chance to have their say on council services and issues in their local community – and the results are in.
The survey, carried out by Denbighshire County Council, was sent out to a random 6,000 properties in the county. It was designed to find out the perceptions of communities as places to live and the level of anti-social behaviour and to find levels of satisfaction with Council services, including Environmental Services, transport, education, social services and housing, cultural and leisure services.
It also helped the Council to find out how well informed people are when it comes to the Council and its services; to understand experiences of complaining to the Council; determine satisfaction levels with making contact with the Council and to find out opinions on the Council’s policies and procedures.
The majority of responses to the survey came from the over 55 age group.
The survey found that:
- Most residents were satisfied with their local area as a place to live (87%)
- The majority of residents felt safe in their local area during the day (97%)
- Two in five people agreed their local area “has a strong sense of community”
- Levels of satisfaction with services provided by Environmental Services were high.
- Residents felt it was easy to obtain information about most services offered by the Council.
- Most people who’d received information by a councillor were satisfied with the information received
- People were very satisfied with the fact they could communicate in the language of their choice (96%), staff were customer friendly (92%) and it was easy to find the right person to deal with (83%)
- Opinions about the Council were mainly positive
Issues raised during the survey included potholes in roads, dog fouling and rubbish and according to residents, the three priority areas that should be the main focus of the Council over the next five years are:
- Keeping communities clean and safe
- Support for the local economy and jobs
- Responding to the needs of an ageing population whilst attracting and retaining younger people and families.
Leader of Denbighshire, Councillor Hugh Evans, who is also the Cabinet Lead Member for Communities, said: “We first carried out a survey in 2009 to see what our residents thought about Council services, as well as asking questions on issues such as community safety, community facilities and perception of living in a community.
“We wanted to repeat the survey again this year to track any changes in opinions and levels of satisfaction.
“Many of you will have heard about the Council’s vision of being a high performing Council that is closer to its communities. The findings will prove to be extremely valuable as they will help us listen to the views of our residents and shape Council services for the future”.
The full results can be found on the Council’s website: www.denbighshire.gov.uk/survey
