feature: Listening to you - working for you
17 March 2008
The latest independent Haringey residents’ survey shows that the council is listening and responding to local people’s concerns. Here we look at how the council uses the results to improve services.
The annual residents’ survey is part of the council’s overall “Have your say Haringey” commitment to gather your views and use the information from all the feedback we get to make improvements.
The latest results show that in many areas Haringey is now performing better than the London average. Overall 74 per cent say the council keeps them informed, 10 per cent ahead of the London figure, and 70 per cent say the council is doing a good job and making Haringey a better place to live.
The score on council efficiency is up 10 per cent, to 58 per cent, and on value for money up eight per cent, to 42 per cent.
“We are working hard to deliver improved, value for money services across the board, and this survey shows that residents are seeing the difference,”
said Council Leader Cllr George Meehan.
“We use all the feedback we receive to help us improve our services, so I hope as many people as possible will continue to have their say.”
The full survey results can be seen on the council website www.haringey.gov.uk/residentssurvey.
|back to topSurvey highlights
Crime
Last year you told us that your top concern was crime. Since then we’ve been working with the Safer Neighbourhood teams and London Transport police to tackle local priorities, from crack houses on estates to anti-social behaviour, and run extra youth activities in the holidays. This year concern about crime is down by eight per cent.
- Interesting finding: Concern about crime is lowest among residents aged 60 or more.
Getting through on the phone
Last year almost half of you said it was difficult to get through on the phone. As a result we made changes, including a new auto-answering system making sure that calls are always routed through to the first available operator, and extra staff on our busiest day, Monday.
This year concern about getting through is down by 10 per cent, and is now better than the figure for London as a whole.
|back to topThe environment
Environmental issues like traffic, litter and pollution also come high on residents’ list of concerns - and this year none of these issues were on the increase.
The council has responded to dissatisfaction with particular service areas such as repair of roads and pavements, street cleaning and recycling in a number of ways, from spending more where necessary to finding new ways to deliver services, like the litter picking rounds - with improved satisfaction ratings across the board.
The survey also looked at services such as public transport, overseen by the Mayor of London rather than the council. Overall there is less concern about public transport in Haringey than last year, and 69 per cent of respondents say public transport is good or excellent, up seven per cent on last year.
- Interesting finding: Concern about pollution is significantly higher among better off residents (AB social group; 22 per cent) than among the DE social group (10 per cent).
Have your say
We want you to keep telling us what we get right and what we get wrong.
You can make sure you have your say by checking online consultation and surveys at www.haringey.gov.uk/haveyoursay, as well as attending your local area assembly or a councillor surgery.
The annual resident survey is run by an independent company, which quizzes more than 1,000 people across the borough about their opinions and experience. The sample is selected to be representative of the Haringey population as a whole.
Residents are asked about their major concerns, like crime, education and jobs, how they think the council is performing, and what they think about individual services. Because other London councils carry out the same survey, we can compare our results with the capital as a whole. Young people are asked about their views in a separate survey.
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