New survey reveals 93% of Highland residents are happy with community life and services in the Highlands
4th November 2014
A report on the latest results from a survey of the Citizen's Panel shows generally positive trends and improving satisfaction with most services in the Highlands.
93% say they rate quality of community life in the neighbourhood they live in as very or fairly good and almost 97% rate their locality as very or fairly safe. 78% believe the Council meets or exceeds their general expectations, with 45 service areas scoring highly in satisfaction, with the four most important services being listed as road repairs, winter road maintenance, refuse collection and recycling services.
When asked if the council maintains good quality local services, 67% agree against a national benchmark of 45%.
When it comes to contacting the council, 91% say they find it easy, with the top three preferred methods being personal visit (33%), on-line (29%) and telephone (20%).
Online contact is steadily increasing and 34 new forms have now been made available via the new website, with an additional 33 to be introduced early next year.
Steve Barron, Chief Executive said: "We are listening and where there are areas of concern, we have put improvement plans in place. However, this report gives us really important and positive evidence which demonstrates that the Highlands is a great place to live and do business."
Leader of the Council Drew Hendry welcomed the report saying, "The annual survey contributes towards our Programme commitment that we will continue to measure our progress openly, report on it publicly and listen to communities, to ensure we are delivering the best value for Council taxpayers."
The survey received 1,148 responses from our Citizens' Panel providing a 41.9% response rate.
One area of dissatisfaction was highlighted in the survey in relation to road repairs and potholes. £1.25 million was allocated in April 2014 to fund an action plan to address this issue. There have already been promising results and a report will be presented to the Community Services committee in February 2015.
The Citizens’ Panel Survey can be found on our website at http://www.highland.gov.uk/meetings/meeting/3335/highland_council
Related Businesses
Related Articles
At the Highland Council Economy and Infrastructure Committee. (Thursday 2 May 2024) Members had the opportunity to review the work the Council is doing to progress active travel and improve road safety before approving the next steps.
At the meeting of the Economy and Infrastructure Committee members had the opportunity to review the last two years of the Community Regeneration Funding Programme before agreeing changes to how the 2024/25 programme will be delivered. Committee Chair, Cllr Ken Gowans said: "Following a successful two years, it is a good time to review what has gone well and what can be done better so we can continue to build on success, and seamlessly move the focus onto how best to support the delivery of projects." "With 279 live projects and over £6million of committed funds still to be claimed, there is no doubt as to the value and impact of the programme's potential.
The Highland Council's In-House bus service pilot project was launched in January 2023. The success of its first year of operation in delivering savings and creating a valued and reliable service was highlighted at today’s Economy and Infrastructure Committee.
Members of Highland Council's Economy and Infrastructure Committee today (2 May 2024) approved the local authority's draft Ecology Strategy and Action Plan which will now move forward to an 12-week public consultation. The Ecology Strategy sets out an ambitious set of actions to tackle biodiversity loss and address the ecological emergency.
Economy and Infrastructure Committee members today (2 May 2024) agreed to direct £100K from the Council's share of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) to fund a new staff training programme at the Inverness Castle Experience. The funding will enable the project team to provide specialist visitor attraction training to young people identified through partners at Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) and the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI).
The Housing and Property Committee met on Wednesday 1 May 2024 and noted the Housing Service performance report 2023/24 that met the agreed priorities and associated initiatives in the Local Housing Strategy 2023-2028. The report highlighted a number of achievements in 2023/24 in increasing housing supply.
Kate Lackie, Malcolm MacLeod and Allan Gunn have been appointed as Assistant Chief Executives with The Highland Council. Convener of the Council, Cllr Bill Lobban said: "I am delighted to say that Kate Lackie, Malcolm MacLeod and Allan Gunn have been appointed as Assistant Chief Executives with The Highland Council.
As intimated in Highland Council's budget plan, a new senior management structure is to be implemented following approval by Council 14th March. It reconfigures the senior management team into two layers, rather than three and brings Highland Council into line with other benchmarked authorities.
Today, Morrison Construction introduced some of their local apprentices who are working on the UK Governments' Levelling Up Funded refurbishment project at the Northern Meeting Park in Inverness. All these apprentices have been recruited from the Highland area.
The by-election to elect a councillor to represent Ward 19 - Inverness South on The Highland Council has been won by Duncan Cameron McDonald - Independent who was one of the eight candidates who contested the vacancy. Voters in the ward went to the poll yesterday (Thursday 11 April) and the by-election count was held this morning in The Highland Council Headquarters in Inverness.
