Wirral Council shines in major survey of the North WestA major new survey on what people in the North West think of their area and their local council is revealed today.
And Wirral Council gets a thumbs up from the majority of people questioned.
The survey "demonstrates the importance of renewing local democracy," said Communities secretary John Denham.
Mr Denham said the results of the national Place Survey – based on more than 500,000 people’s views and perceptions about where they live - demonstrates the importance of listening to local people and delivering what they want for their local area.
Despite the independent survey showing the vast majority of people in the region (77%) being happy with their area as a place to live, much less (42%) are satisfied with their local council.
In Wirral, nearly 84% of those questioned said they were happy to live in the area, more than 53% reported they were satisfied with the local authority and more than 50% believed they received value for money from their town hall services. [see my note below]At the same time, the survey reveals that while people (27%) feel they have little influence on the decisions affecting their area, many would like to be more involved (27%).
Mr Denham said: “This survey gives us an important and comprehensive insight in to what people think of where they live and their local authorities.
"The good news is that most people are generally positive about where they live and their quality of life.
"However, the improvements we’ve seen in local services are not being reflected in people’s perception of their council.
“There is a challenge here for both local and central government. I want to see local councils do more – and gain more power – to shape the services offered in their area. There is an untapped demand for local people to have more say in what goes on."
The averaged results for the North West survey showed:
77% of residents are satisfied with their local area as a place to live, compared to 80% nationally.
42% are, taking everything into account, satisfied with the way their local council runs things – around the national average of 45%.
32% of the community agreed or strongly agreed that their local council provided value for money, while the national average was 33%
27% felt they could influence decisions in their local area – matching the national average and 27% also wanted to be more involved in decisions that affected their local area – again, the national average.
WIRRAL GLOBENoteThe results of the survey can be downloaded
here (in an Excel table) interestingly the article above says that "more than 53% reported they were satisfied with the local authority and more than 50% believed they received value for money from their town hall services", table 2 of the results gives "n/a" as the result for both of these questions in Wirral.
Also, the survey was carried out before the council announced the library and other cuts, so the survey indicates that 80.2% of people are satisfied with the libraries as they are.
what a load of bollocks 
