Liverpool City Council - 2008 quality of life survey

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Monday 1 December 2008

2008 quality of life survey

Background

Liverpool City Council provides a wide range of services including, street-based services, parks and open spaces and pavement repairs.

We know that the performance of these services can affect the quality of life of the residents of Liverpool, and an annual survey is used to discover the level of satisfaction with these services.

This survey measured satisfaction levels across the city's five neighbourhood areas and included some of the indicators that were contained in the 2006 quality of life survey and the 2007 quality of life survey so that the results from the two surveys could be compared. The city's 5 neighbourhood management areas are:

Alt Valley
City and North
Eastern Link
South Central
South Liverpool

Questionnaires were sent out to a cross-section of 5,000 residents across the five neighbourhood areas during March and April 2008.  1,213 were returned.

Summary of results

Quality of life in local areas:

• 79% of people who responded to the survey said that low level of crime was the most important factor in making an area a good place to live.

• Clean streets were seen as important by 52% of people.

• The level of crime was seen as the issue most in need of improvement by 56% of people, followed by clean streets (45% of people).

Litter and refuse:

• 58% of people were satisfied with the way Liverpool City Council keeps land clear of litter and refuse, the same percentage as in the 2006 survey.

• Residents of City and North were least satisfied with this service (54%), residents of Alt Valley (60%) and South Liverpool (60%) were most satisfied.

Waste collection service:

• 94% of people were satisfied with the reliability of the waste collection service, 93% satisfied with the bin provided and 91% satisfied with the waste collection service overall, compared to 90% in the 2006 survey.

• Fewer were satisfied with the collection of bulky household waste (71%).

• Satisfaction with the service overall was highest in Alt Valley (96%) and lowest in City and North (84%).

Recycling facilities:

• 76% of people were satisfied with local recycling facilities, up from 67% in 2006.  Levels of satisfaction were highest in South Liverpool (82%), and lowest in Eastern Link (71%).

• 82% were satisfied with the items that can be deposited for recycling.

• 88% of people were satisfied with the doorstep recycling service, up from 78% in 2006.

Street-based services:

• Levels of satisfaction were highest with: 'maintenance of street lighting' (74%), 'sweeping of main roads' ((74%) and 'provision of street lighting' (72%).

• Lowest levels of satisfaction were with: 'removal of fly posting' (45%), 'removal of graffiti' (43%) and the 'amount and quality of environmental enforcement' (40%).

• The highest levels of satisfaction with street based services overall were expressed in South Liverpool (62%) and in Alt Valley (61%). The lowest level of satisfaction was expressed in South Central (55%).  Satisfaction for the city overall was 59%, an 8% increase since 2007.

Roadand pavement repairs:

• 42% of people expressed satisfaction with the road and pavement repairs service overall, a 10% increase since 2006.

• The highest level of satisfaction was expressed with 'maintenance of main roads in good condition' (58%), whilst the lowest level of satisfaction was with 'prompt repairs to potholes' (25%).

• City and North expressed the highest levels of satisfaction with all aspects of road and pavement repair services.  The lowest levels of satisfaction were expressed in Alt Valley and South Central.

Parks and open spaces:

• The highest levels of satisfaction were expressed with: 'access to nature' (70%), 'cemeteries and crematoria' (64%) and 'maintenance of parks and open spaces' (60%).

• Satisfaction levels were lowest with: 'safe use of parks and open spaces' (44%), 'provision of outdoor recreation' (40%) and 'allotment provision' (29%).

• The highest levels of satisfaction with parks and open spaces were expressed in South Liverpool and South Central.  The lowest levels of satisfaction were expressed in Alt Valley and City and North.

Provision of information:

• 54% of people felt that the council keeps them fairly or very well informed about services and benefits provided by the council.  This is similar to the 53% figure in the 2006 survey.

• 13% of people felt that the council does not tell them much at all about what it does, a fall from 15% in the 2006 survey. 

• People aged under 20 and residents of City and North were most dissatisfied with the provision of information from the council.

Overall satisfaction with the council:

• 51% of people were fairly or very satisfied with the way the council runs things, a slight fall from 53% in the 2006 survey.  23% were fairly or very dissatisfied.

• 52% of people felt that the way the council runs things has stayed the same over the past 3 years, whilst 27% felt that there has been improvement.  However, in 2006 34% felt that there had been improvement.

Complaints handling:

• 26% of people had contacted the council with a complaint during the previous 12 months, an increase of 5% since 2006.

• 42% of people who had made a complaint were satisfied with the way their complaint was handled, an improvement of 6% since 2006.

• 48% of people who had made a complaint were dissatisfied with the way their complaint was handled, compared to 52% in 2006.

Community involvement:

• 25% of people felt they could influence decisions affecting their local area, a decrease from 29% in 2006.

• 5% felt they could not influence decisions, an increase from 40% in 2006.

Voluntary work:

• 73% of people said that they had not undertaken any type of voluntary activity within the previous 12 months.

• Levels of volunteering for an organisation were highest in South Central and South Liverpool and lowest in Alt Valley and City and North.

Community Cohesion:

• Just over half of people (52%) agreed that that their local area is a place where people from different backgrounds get on well together, compared with 53% in 2007.

• 21% of people disagreed, an increase from 17% in 2007.

• 51% of people felt that they live in an area where residents respect ethnic differences, this figure was unchanged from 2007.

• Residents of South Central and South Liverpool were more likely to agree that their area is a place where people from different backgrounds get on well together and that ethnic differences are respected than in other neighbourhood areas

Satisfaction with local area:

• 74% of people were satisfied with their local area as a place to live, up from 71% in 2006.

• Residents of South Central and South Liverpool expressed the highest levels of satisfaction with their local areas (85%), whilst City and North expressed the lowest levels of satisfaction (60%).

• 48% of residents were very or fairly satisfied with the overall service provided by local agencies.  22% were very or fairly dissatisfied.

Changes in quality of life:

• Local issues that were most commonly stated to have improved were 'health services' (26%), 'clean streets' (23%) and 'shopping facilities' (23%).

• Issues that were most commonly stated to have stayed the same included 'access to nature' (80%), 'race relations' (77%) and 'education provision' (76%).

• Issues that were most commonly felt to have got worse included: 'wage levels and the cost of living' (61%), 'the level of traffic congestion' (61%) and 'the level of crime' (54%).

Anti-social behaviour:

• Issues most commonly identified as a problem were: 'people using or dealing drugs' (67%), 'teenagers hanging around in the streets' (65%) and 'vandalism, graffiti and other deliberate damage to property or vehicles' (56%).  These were the same issues identified in the 2007 survey.

• A greater number of residents in Alt Valley described these issues as a problem than in other neighbourhood areas.

• During the previous 12 months 61% of people stated that they have experienced teenagers hanging around in the streets, 54% had experienced rubbish or litter lying around and 41% had been a victim of vandalism.

Read the complete report on the survey.

For more information about this survey, please contac:

Lesley Thompson, Community Services portfolio
Tel: 0151 233 6306
Email: lesley.thompson@liverpool.gov.uk