Resident satisfaction with waste collection in Brighton and Hove has more than doubled and satisfaction with other key services such as parks and open spaces, seafront and schools has also risen.
The proportion of residents this year who said they were fairly or very satisfied with waste collection more than doubled to 64% while the same figure for schools rose from 48% in 2014 to 54% this year. Library services saw a rise from 60% in 2014 to 66%, sports and leisure rose from 50% to 63% while arts and culture rose from 62% to 75% over the same period.
Satisfaction with parks and open spaces increased from 71% in 2014 to 86% while those fairly or very satisfied with the seafront rose from 61% to 72%, according to the latest wide-ranging City Tracker survey. The City Tracker is a telephone based survey with a representative sample of 1,000 residents.
The City Tracker also shows that nearly nine out of ten residents (86%) are satisfied with Brighton & Hove as a place to live, a 7% increase compared to the 2014 result, and three out of five of all residents (61%) and service users (60%) are satisfied with the council. User satisfaction has improved 20% compared to 2014 when only 40% were satisfied.
Three out of five respondents (59%) also say they trust the council a great deal or a fair amount, compared to 52% in 2014. This is in line with the June 2015 LGA national poll where 58% of respondents trusted their local council a great deal or a fair amount.
Commenting on the findings, Brighton & Hove City Council Leader Cllr Warren Morgan said:
“Resident satisfaction has risen across most key services including waste collection, schools and the seafront.
“Three out of five of all service users are satisfied with the council, compared to only two out of five last year, while 9 out of ten residents are satisfied with the city is a place to live, which is all good news.
“There are many improvements in the survey results from last year and we’re moving in the right direction but we still have work to do. Our residents deserve the very best services and despite the massive funding reductions we face as a council, where some services could be reduced or even stopped, we’re determined to ensure the services we do continue to provide are the very best.”
“We have a clear focus on priorities. Almost a quarter of residents say they won’t have enough money – after housing costs - to meet their basic living costs next year. “We have set up the Fairness Commission to focus efforts on reducing inequality in the city, and we are building council homes and working to deliver 1,000 affordable homes in the next 2 years.”
View the City Tracker