Agenda item

Customer Satisfaction Survey 2019

As part of the Council’s performance framework an annual Residents Satisfaction Survey is undertaken.   The Working Group is asked to note this report.

Minutes:

            The Group Head of Policy advised the Working Group that as part of the Council’s performance framework the annual Residents Satisfaction Survey had been undertaken. 1800 residents had been randomly selected and sent the questionnaire and 579 had been returned, a 32% response rate. The results for 2019 had been grouped slightly differently based on feedback from Members in previous years, thus allowing for a more local picture to be captured from the results.

 

            The report had been broken in to two sections; Living in Arun District and Customer Satisfaction with the Council and its services. It confirmed that the overall satisfaction levels were high, with 80% residents saying that they were either very satisfied or fairly satisfied with their local area, this is on par with the Local Government Association (LGA) national survey which had satisfaction levels of 81%. The data suggests that those who are satisfied with the cleanliness of the District were significantly more likely to be satisfied with the area as a place to live.

66% of residents were satisfied with the way that Arun District Council runs the things they are responsible for, this result was above the LGA survey result of 61% set by the LGA. There was some variation by area with Eastern residents saying they were considerably more satisfied than those living in the West of the District.

 

            A number of questions and points were raised by Members of the Working Group and these have been summarised below:

 

§  Discussion was had relating to the results from the Downland area as it showed a significant decrease in its results, Members gave consideration to the number of planning decisions that had recently been made in the area and could this have influenced the result. It was confirmed that Planning decisions for this area were not made by Arun District Council however there could be confusion over the clarity of this for residents.

§  Concern was raised regarding litter and fly tipping along the A27, feedback from a Member was that there was seemingly no clear ownership between Arun District Council (ADC), WSCC or Highways on who should be responsible for clearing the rubbish up. It was confirmed by the Chairman and the Director of Services that Arun District Council was not responsible for major trunk roads like the A27, the responsibility fell with Highways England.

§  Concern was raised that the survey sent out may not have been specific enough in terms of ensuring that residents really understood what ADC does and was responsible for, this could then affect the how residents would answer their survey. The Group Head of Policy confirmed that a list of services provided by ADC was provided at the front of the survey for clarity.

§  Several comments raised on Community Cohesion with discussion around if there was any correlation between the Western Area’s highlighted issue most commonly identified as drug misuse. Members were directed to make contact with the Anti-Social Behaviour team at ADC for information on what steps were in place and would be taken to address these issues.

 

 

The Working Group noted the report.

Supporting documents: