Agenda item

To receive a presentation from the Leader of the Council outlining the outcome of the recent customer satisfaction survey.  

37.1           The Leader of the Council explained that the customer satisfaction survey had been undertaken in October/November 2021 and the detailed outcome had been provided to Members at the end of the previous week. As a customer service organisation, the Council had many ways of understanding what customers wanted and how it was doing against those, and the survey was one way to do that. He felt it should be kept in mind that surveys could say different things depending on what was asked. The last survey had been undertaken in 2014 and it had been brought up in the peer review in 2020 that the Council needed to undertake a customer satisfaction survey but the COVID pandemic meant that had been delayed. The Council had engaged Stratford Upon Avon District Council’s consultation team to undertake the survey work and had used the Local Government Association template which was amended to suit the Council. The results from the current survey would be used to help inform the next one. 5,000 residents had been invited to undertake the survey with the option to complete it in hard copy or online. Ideally the response rate would have been 20% but, with a response rate of 17%, the Council’s results were still statistically valid.

37.2           Broadly, the survey was used to understand if the Council was doing what it needed to do; if there were things it was not doing that it should do; and whether there were things it was not doing well which needed to be addressed. Overall, the impression was that people in the Borough had a strong sense of place and were largely satisfied with the services they received from the Borough Council. Nearly 90% of the respondents were satisfied with the place and when asked about their reasons for liking the place those included the waste collection service, particularly the comingled recycling service. 82% were satisfied with the garden waste service and it was felt the authority should take pride in that. Nearly three quarters of respondents were satisfied with the Council in general including the health services, the low level of crime, the cleanliness of streets and the strong sense of community. There was also a strong sense of satisfaction with the way the Council had responded to the COVID pandemic.

37.3           Looking at what could be improved, there had been significant concerns raised about litter, fly tipping, rural crime and dog fouling. There were specific areas for improvement which were safe roads and pavements, traffic congestion, flood protection and dog fouling. Things such as the state of the roads were not directly the responsibility of the Borough Council but it could influence through working with partners and making development plans. It was felt to be disappointing at the low level of awareness in respect of the two garden communities. Concerns about the planning service were not a surprise as that was the reason for the in-depth review of the service. The specific issues raised in the survey would be addressed through the normal work processes and Stratford Upon Avon would be carrying out a benchmarking survey against other authorities. The amount paid to Stratford Upon Avon District Council by the Borough Council had been approximately £8,000.

37.4           A Member questioned whether there was a breakdown of the survey results by Ward so Councillors could identify what their residents were concerned about. In response, the Head of Corporate Services advised that this was a Boroughwide survey and therefore there was no ward specific feedback. Stratford Upon Avon District Council had undertaken the survey using its expert consultation team with every Parish having a chance to respond. It was clear from the number of paper forms received that the demographic of respondents was the older generation. It was intended that the survey would be undertaken every two years – he would like to have undertaken it in-house but it involved a lot of resource and costs so it was possible a ‘lighter’ survey could be undertaken in-house – it was important to understand how to engage younger people.

37.5           It was suggested that a lot of residents did not seem to know the difference between the different tiers of local government and a Member felt it would be helpful to include some information in the next edition of the Borough News. In response, the Head of Corporate Services confirmed that this was already underway with an article planned for the next Borough News to include a simple chart detailing the responsibilities of different tiers of local government. Another Member questioned whether there were parallels in the responses compared to 2014 results. She also felt there were some areas where statistics could be interpreted how a person wished but, overall, given the resources available Officers needed to be congratulated – there was definitely a need for further education for residents in order to make Officer’s jobs easier. She was concerned that many did not seem to know about the Garden Town and that was probably an area which needed to be addressed along with the fact that many residents did not appear to receive a copy of the Tewkesbury Borough News. She also noted that the length of the survey may have put some people off from completing it and could be the reason that many of the respondents were of retirement age.  In response to a query regarding the reason it had taken 12 months for the survey results to be reported to Members, the Head of Corporate Services indicated that resource pressures had meant turnaround had taken longer than initially anticipated and the results had then been sense checked – he expected the turnaround would be quicker next time. The Leader of the Council suggested it was easy to forget where the country was this time last year with the Council still operating under some COVID restrictions which would have been part of the reasons for the time taken. In response to a query regarding planning customer surveys, the Head of Development Services indicated that they were still sent out and she understood that the responses did need to be reported back.

37.6           Accordingly it was

                  RESOLVED          That the presentation outlining the outcome of the recent                                   customer satisfaction survey be NOTED.