Citizen's Panel January 2001 (Summary)

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Introduction

Hastings Borough Council wished to consult with its Citizens' Panel as part of the Best Value Reviews currently underway. Specific requirements from the Survey were to review:

• Contacting Hastings Borough Council
• nformation about the Council
• Consultation mechanisms
• Contact with Councillors
• Image of the Council
• Traffic management issues
• Conservation & Heritage Projects Service

941 Panel members were circulated with a questionnaire in January 2001. In total 618 questionnaires were returned, giving an overall return rate of 65.7%. The sample returned was not representative of the profile of the Borough as a whole. The data has therefore been weighted on age and gender.

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Summary of main Findings

1. Contact with the Council - Over three quarters of all respondents, when asked the most likely means of contact they would use if they needed to contact Hastings Borough Council, said that they would telephone the main switchboard, (75.3%). 38.3% said that they would telephone the person they needed to speak to directly. A quarter said they would visit one of the Council's main offices, (25.2%), or write to the Council, (24.9%), 6.5% would contact the Council through the web site or e-mail the Council.
2. Overall, 58.6% of respondents had made contact with Hastings Borough Council in the last year. Least likely to have made contact were people under the age of 35 years, (41.9% appear to have made contact). Women, (61.4%), are more likely than men to have made contact, (55.6%).
3. Of those who had made contact with the Council, only a small percentage had made contact 'almost every day', (0.3%), or 'at least once a week', (1.7%). 2.8% had made contact two to three times a month, and 6.4% had made contact 'about once a month'. The majority of respondents, (43.3%), made contact 'two to three times a year', and over a quarter, (28.3%), had made contact on one occasion only.
4. Nearly a quarter of all respondents said that they had made contact with 'The Town Hall', (24.4%), and 17.7% had had contact with the 'Hastings Information Centre'. 18.9% of respondents, who had had contact with the Council, did not give the name/address of the office at which they had had this contact. In the main they gave the purpose of their contact, (e.g. Council Tax, bulky waste collection, etc.), suggesting that they were not aware of the location of the office they had contacted.
5. Respondents were generally satisfied, (i.e. said that it was 'very' or 'fairly easy'), with the various aspects of their contact with the Council. Aspects which were deemed to be 'easy' by over 90% of those who had experienced them, were those in relation to getting to the office they needed to be in, (91.9% easy), getting into the offices, (94.6% easy), and moving round the office they were in, (96.3% easy).
6. Three aspects were notable in that they received lower levels of satisfaction and higher levels of dissatisfaction from the respondents who had experienced them. These were:
   -> 'getting to be speak to the right person' (easy - 71.2%, difficult - 28.8%)
   -> 'speak to someone privately' (easy - 71.1%, difficult - 28.9%)
   -> 'speak to the right person at convenient time' (easy - 68%, difficult - 32%)
7. Respondents were most satisfied with those aspects relating to politeness, (97.4%), and friendliness of the staff, (95.3%). The aspect which generated the highest levels of dissatisfaction was the speed of answering letters, which generated 38.7% dissatisfaction: nearly 2 in 5 of those respondents to whom the question was applicable.
8. Also of concern, with over a quarter of those respondents for whom the question was applicable, was knowing what the Council would do next following the enquiry, (25.6% dissatisfaction). Similarly, what was expected of the respondents, (knowing what I needed to do next), is cause for concern with 22.2% of respondents for whom the question was applicable, expressing dissatisfaction.
9. Respondents were asked whether there were any difficulties that they experienced which affected the way in which they use the Council's services. Over three quarters of all respondents said that they did not experience such difficulties, (65.5% - none of these, 9.9% missing data). 142 respondents said that they did experience difficulties.
10. The major difficulty mentioned by those who said that they experienced difficulties, was that of lack of transport, mentioned by 13.4% of the overall sample. Mobility difficulties, (6.8%), health difficulties, (6.1%), and child care responsibilities, (5.1%), were mentioned by more than 5% of the sample.
11. Less than half of those respondents who reported that they had difficulties were satisfied that the Council had taken their needs into account, (47.5%), Indeed over a third of these respondents were dissatisfied, (34.3%).
12. The questionnaire listed a number of potential improvements which the Council is considering to improve the usefulness of its services to residents of the Borough. The most useful of these for all respondents were local community based offices, with over a third of all respondents considering these to be very useful, (34.2%), and a further 36.8% considering them to be fairly useful.
13. The second most popular improvement was the production of information in other formats, for example talking newspapers, large print, etc., with 25% of respondents thinking these to be very useful and a further 43.3% that they would be fairly useful.
14. Although public kiosks with computer access to information, were thought to be useful by less than half of all respondents, respondents aged under 35 years were more likely to find these attractive. (69.3% of those under 35 thought these would be useful). Similarly, the increased use of the Internet and e-mail, although considered to be useful by only 57.5% of all respondents, were thought to be useful by over three quarters of respondents under the age of 35 years, (76.4%).
15. Respondents were asked whether they had ever wanted to use Council services outside of the hours 8.30am to 5.00pm. 17.6% of respondents said that they had wanted to use a service weekdays between 5.00pm and 9.00pm, 25.6% on Saturdays between 9.00am and 5.00pm, 10.3% between 5.00pm and 9.00pm on a Saturday, and 15.1% on a Sunday between 9.00am and 5.00pm.
16. The greatest requirement is for Saturday opening between 9am and 5pm. Nearly a third of the respondents who required this additional opening time, named the Information Centre, (94 of the 308 requirements for use), as the office they would wish to see open.
17. 12.7% of respondents to the survey said that they had made a formal or written complaint to the Council. It should be noted that the question was phrased as 'have you ever made a formal or written complaint', and so these complaints need not have been recent.
18. Source of Information - Primary sources of information are the Observer Newspaper, Hastings Information Centre and About Magazine. Also of note are information from libraries, Arrow FM and information directly from Council officers. These sources are consistent in usage across all groups, although use of Arrow FM as a source of information is greater in the younger age group, (under 35 years - 29.7% compared with 8.9% of those aged over 65 years).
19. 38.9% of all respondents said that they currently have access to the Internet at home. This access is greatest in the age group 35 to 54 years, (54.3% have access), and lowest in the age group over 65 years, (19% have access). Only 13.9% of those living in rented accommodation have access to the internet at home, compared with 44.9% of those in privately owned or mortgaged accommodation. 38.9% of all respondents said that they currently have access to the Internet at home. This access is greatest in the age group 35 to 54 years, (54.3% have access), and lowest in the age group over 65 years, (19% have access). Only 13.9% of those living in rented accommodation have access to the internet at home, compared with 44.9% of those in privately owned or mortgaged accommodation.
20. Of those who do not currently have access to the Internet at home, 45.6% said that they had no plans to get access, and a further 24.5% either did not know whether they might have access in the future or missed the question. As can be seen from the figure below, half of all respondents either have, or expect to have, access to the Internet at home within the next two years.
21. Only 70 respondents said that they had visited Hastings Borough Council web site, (11.6% of all respondents). However, the majority of those who had visited the web site found the information it contained useful, (17.7% very useful, 63.2% fairly useful).
22. When asked whether they felt that they got enough, or not enough, information from the Council about aspects of the Council's activities and responsibilities, respondents, in the main, felt that there was insufficient information. Most mentioned as having insufficient information were 'what is happening in your ward', (58.8% not enough information), and 'projects, e.g. spending of lottery money', (57% not enough information).
23. Over a quarter of all respondents felt that they had enough information on 'how the budget is set', (30.1% enough), and 'Council priority areas', (26.5%), although for both of these the percentage of respondents who felt that there was insufficient information exceeds that of those who felt there to be enough. (35.2% and 44.1% respectively).
24. Requirements for more information relate closely, (although do not match), the 'not enough' responses relating to information on the Council's activities and responsibilities. 'Projects: spending of Lottery money' was the most important here, with 38.9% of respondents requiring further information on this. This was closely followed by 'what is happening in your ward', (38.7% required more information). How respondents could influence decisions, (30.1%), and Council priority areas, (27.8%), were each mentioned by more than one in four of the respondents.
25. Respondents were asked how they would like to receive more information from the Council. Most popular was a regular column in the Hastings Observer, (76.1%), followed by Ward based newsletters, (57.5%). Least popular was 'drop in sessions with Council staff', (4.9%).
26. Just under half of all respondents felt that they had received enough information about how the views residents had given them in the past had been used by the Council, (46.2%). 44.8% felt that they had not had sufficient feedback, with 9% not giving an opinion, (missing data).
27. Only 6.5% of respondents were of the view that the Council is very open to new ideas or suggestions, with a further 44.8% saying that it is occasionally open to new ideas. (16% said that the Council is not at all open to new ideas).
28. Councillors - Over one third of all respondents to the survey said that they either knew who both of their Councillors are, (17.9%), or who one of their Councillors is, (20.3%). (Total 38.2%).
29. Overall, just under 1 in 5 respondents had tried to contact their Councillor, (19.5%). Just over half of respondents who had tried to make contact said that they had done this by writing a letter, (51.2%). However, significant numbers also said that they had 'met the Councillor by chance', (19.9%), had met the Councillor at a resident's association meeting, (17.4%), had attended a surgery, (13.3%), and/or had left a message at the Town Hall, (13.3%).
30. The largest proportion of those who had tried to make contact with their Councillor said that it was in regard to a planning issue, (23.3%). 19.9% said it was related to a ward issue, and 16.7% said their purpose for contact was to give a complaint about a service. A quarter of those who had tried to have contact with a Councillor gave other reasons for this contact.
31. The vast majority of those who wanted to contact their Councillor had done so on the last occasion they had tried, (81.3%).
32. Nearly half of those who had made contact with the Councillor, (47.3%), said that the Councillor had been able to answer their question satisfactorily in person. A further 22.7% said that the Councillor had been able to answer the question by forwarding it on to the relevant officer of the Council. i.e. 70% said that they received satisfactory answers. 25.3% said that they did not get a satisfactory answer.
33. The majority of respondents, (57.8%), thought that the present role of the Mayor is an asset to the town. 23% thought that it was not, and 16.8% did not know whether the role was an asset or not. (Missing data 2.4%). There are major differences between age groups for this question. 38.5% of respondents under the age of 35 years felt that the Mayor is an asset to the town, and this rises to nearly three quarters of respondents aged 65 years and over.
34. Image of the Council - Respondents were asked to what extent they felt that 'key' attributes' reflected the Council's image. They were given a three point scale: 'always', 'occasionally', and 'never'.
35. Hastings Borough Council scores most highly in respect of its accessibility and approachability. This was closely followed by honesty and fairness. However, three areas of potential 'weakness' emerge: value for money, accountability and openness and transparency. The latter two also had the highest number of respondents scoring the Council as 'never' being 'accountable', (17.3%), and 'never' being 'open and transparent', (17.8%).
36. Traffic Management - Respondents were asked to rank the benefits of traffic management on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the most important and 5 being the least important to them. The overwhelming first priority was that of reducing injury and preventing death, which gained a mean score of 1.81. Opinion was then relatively evenly divided between the other four benefits, with making it safer for pedestrians and cyclists being marginally more important than the other four, and slowing traffic being marginally less important.
37. Respondents were asked, given that the Council has a limited amount of money available, whether they thought it would be better each year to complete two or three big schemes or to complete several smaller schemes. 45.2% of respondents thought it would be better to complete two or three big schemes and 39.1% that it would be better to complete several smaller schemes. The numbers in the two sub groups were 265, (2 or 3 big schemes), and 256, (several smaller schemes). Although there would appear to be a larger proportion of people requiring the larger schemes, this is not statistically significant.
38. When respondents were asked which of a number of options would be the best way to slow down traffic, the two most popular means were supporting the police in installing speed cameras, (34.4%), and installing speed bumps, or road restrictors, etc. (34.1%). 22.5% of respondents would be in favour of a 20mph speed zone, (27.5% of older people would be in favour of this).
39. Least popular were installing 'kill your speed signs', which were supported by only 4.3% of respondents. (4.7% of the respondents did not give an answer to this question).
40. Conservation and Heritage Projects Section - 56.6% of all respondents were aware that the Council has a Conservation and Heritage Projects Section. 40.8% of respondents were unaware of this and 2.6% did not respond to the question.
41. Just over one in ten of all respondents, (10.9%), who were aware of the Section claimed to have had contact with the Section. (89.1% said that they had not had contact): i.e. 6.2% of the overall sample had made contact.
42. The majority of those who had contact with the Section were of the opinion that the service provided was 'good', (51.1%), with a further 23.8% saying that the service was satisfactory. However, 15.5% thought the service to be only fair, and 4.5% that it was poor. (The total number of respondents, however, was small - i.e. 51 people).
43. The vast majority of respondents thought it either very, (51.9%), or fairly important, (37.8%) to preserve areas and buildings of special architectural i.e. historic character. (89.7% important). Only 6.3% of respondents thought this not important, with a further 3.9% not giving a response or giving a don't know response.
44. It was clear that all objectives, with the exception of informing and educating residents, (4.7%), and improving housing in the local area, (11.7%), were considered to be important by a substantial proportion of residents. Of particular importance were improving the image of the town, (45.1% of all respondents), making Hastings a place to be proud of, (43.8%), and preventing dereliction, (42.1%).
45. The vast majority of respondents, (88.6%), were of the view that the Council should continue to invest in Conservation Projects in the local area, with only a tiny minority, (2.1%), saying that the Council should not invest in these projects.

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