Agenda item

Report of the Cabinet Member Finance

The Cabinet Member Finance introduced the report and explained that residents’ surveys were frequently carried out by local councils in order to collect statistically robust views from a representative sample of residents.

The benefits of undertaking such a survey allowed the Council to:

·         Compare the views of residents to national data sets;

·         Explore priorities at a local level;

·         Set baselines/track perceptions of service quality;

·         Collect insight to inform strategy

·         Collect data on new or emerging issues

·         Provide a set of baseline measures for the Council’s Corporate Plan and Place Vision

The Cabinet Member reported that a total of 5,500 postal addresses were randomly sampled across all Cheltenham wards and a proportional cross section of households was included in the sampling. This approach guaranteed that the 5,500 households who were invited to complete the survey were representative of the borough as a whole.

The survey was conducted during July and August 2019 and had a response rate of 29%, above the rate now typical in surveys of this type (20-25%).

She reported that to give the geographical analysis in the report a more robust statistical basis, responses have been reviewed using five ward groupings rather than at individual ward level. The composition of these ward groupings were :-

The report showed that overall 84% of Cheltenham residents were satisfied with their local area as a place to live.  This score was higher than the Local Government Association (LGA) benchmark (80%) and the BMG urban authority benchmark (80%).

More than four in five Cheltenham residents agreed that the Council should play a role in tackling air quality issues (83%), enabling people to walk/ cycle more (82%) and enabling public transport use (81%).

Three quarters (75%) of residents agreed that Cheltenham Borough Council should try to reduce vehicle emissions in the borough.

The Cabinet Member Finance referred to the decision made by the County Council Traffic regulation order committee to reopen Boots corner which was contrary to what Cheltenham’s residents were telling the council through this statistically robust survey.

The Cabinet Member then reported that all residents were also given the opportunity within the survey to select up to three priority issues (out of a total of 15 possible priorities) for Cheltenham Borough Council to focus upon. The priorities that were most commonly selected were:

·         Providing more affordable housing (32%);

·         Tackling homelessness (30%); and,

·         Promoting walking, cycling and public transport (29%).

The full report provided a range of valuable insights that could be used to inform future decision making and priority setting as well as a baseline for the Council’s Corporate Plan.  She highlighted that the council had already started to take action to address issues highlighted within the report findings with examples including:

·         Providing more affordable housing :  the Council had announced up to £100m of funding for Cheltenham Borough Homes to increase the supply of affordable housing

·         Job Opportunities: 45% of respondents suggested that job opportunities and career progression best explained these moves out of the borough so the Council was looking to increase future job opportunities by working towards making Cheltenham the Cyber Capital of the UK in West Cheltenham and by supporting other initiatives such as Workshop Cheltenham

·         Promoting walking, cycling and public transport: bus travel had increased by 2% against a national decline of 4% due to the Cheltenham Transport Plan.

The Leader welcomed the work and the response rate received. This represented a statistically accurate survey which would inform future decisions.

In light of the Boots Corner decision taken by the County Council TRO committee Cabinet Members felt strongly that the Leader should write formally to Gloucestershire County Council urgently outlining the views of Cheltenham’s residents in terms of tackling air quality issues, enabling more walking and cycling and use of public transport.

In response the Leader confirmed that he would do everything possible to encourage a different view prior to the decision at the county council cabinet meeting on Friday 20 December.

RESOLVED THAT

1.    The 2019 Resident Satisfaction Survey results be acknowledged, along with the baseline they provide for the Council’s Corporate Plan and Place Vision

2.    The survey be repeated in three years’ time to measure the impact of the Council’s corporate plan on resident satisfaction levels

3.    The results be used to inform Council service plans to address areas in need of performance improvement and/or further investigation

4.    The results from the survey be communicated to the Council’s partners that have lead responsibilities for areas where further improvement has been identified