We sent our residents' panel a postal survey in July 2008 to help us understand more about your community and your views on the area in where you live.
We already know what our budget will be for the next year and have made a commitment to keep council tax increases down. Our challenge is to provide the services that people need more effectively and efficiently. Your comments will help us make best use of the funding we have.
We asked about:
- Your local area and the services available.
- What is a priority and anything that needs improving.
- What you think about our highways service.
- How satisfied you are with our services and the County Council as a whole, including contacting the County Council.
In total 1,517 responses were received, giving a record response rate of 80%.
You told us:
- Most respondents have positive feelings of what their local area means to them and most (88%) are satisfied with where they live.
- The three things that are most important to panel members are clean streets, the level of crime and health services.
- The three things that need improving most are the level of traffic congestion, activities for teenagers and road and pavement repairs.
- Respondents are not satisfied with our highways services. The main reasons for dissatisfaction are the quality of repairs, the time frame and timing of road works and poor advance warning.
- When taking everything into account, more than half (54%) of respondents are satisfied with the way the Council runs things.
You can download a report containing the survey findings below.
What happened as a result of this consultation
These findings showed that there were several issues that needed to be addressed. As a result of what panel members told us the following recommendations were made:
- address panel members concerns about how they contribute to our decision making process
- continue to increase the number of residents who feel they are informed about Council services
- improve residents’ experiences when they contact us
- address issues about providing public transport in rural areas
- address panel members concerns over the quality of highways service
- ensure that we consider what panel members say is important in their community when services and budgets are reviewed.
These results and recommendations were presented to:
Action we have taken
- We’re addressing the concerns many of you expressed about whether residents views are making a difference to our decision making process. We know this is an area that we need to improve and are trying out different ways to tell people how their feedback has changed things.
- We’re continuing to increase the number of residents who feel they are informed about council services by providing improved and accessible communications.
- We are working to improve residents’ experiences when they contact us by introducing corporate customer care standards across all council departments.
- Our Passenger Transport Review is looking at how public transport is provided in East Sussex and as part of this review a new Bus and Community Transport Strategy is being developed.
- A number of improvements are being made to our highways service including improving the timing and quality of information about road works, working with colleagues from utility companies to raise standards and look for shared opportunities, and improving the way our Highways Team deals with queries from the public.
- Our Transport and Environment Department has been allocated an additional £1.6m in 2009/10 for road and pavement repairs. This will help with repairing potholes, which have appeared due to severe weather.
- Feedback from this survey is being used to help us decide on our priorities and inform our budget setting process for 2010/2011.
You can read more details about what has happened as a result of this consultation in the outcomes report below.
East Sussex County Council