Survey to ask for views on highways and transport

People’s views on Shropshire’s highways and transport services will soon be compared with others across England, thanks to the National Highways and Transport Public Satisfaction survey.

Shropshire Council is one of nearly 70 local authorities to sign up to a standardised survey that will ask members of the public exactly the same questions, whether they live in Shropshire, Somerset or Suffolk.

The survey, which is being run for the fourth year, is the result of months of hard work between the National Highways & Transport Network (NHT) and a regional Highways Service Improvement Group. It enables local authorities to compare results, share in best practice and identify opportunities to work together in the future.

The questionnaire will be sent to a minimum random sample of 1000 Shropshire residents in June/July with local and national results expected to be published later in the summer. Since the survey is based on a selected sample, those residents that receive a copy are being urged to take part.

The results will enable us to find out what people in this area think about these important services. This will provide one of several ways Shropshire Council can assess how it is performing and which services to prioritise, and to improve.

Councillor Simon Jones, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for transport, said:

“There are clear benefits to conducting a public survey in this way. As well as providing excellent value for money, it also enables everyone involved to identify areas of best practice and spot national, regional and local trends. This is not about producing a league table to champion one geographical area over another, it is about understanding customer views better and working together to deliver the best possible outcomes for local residents.”

Further information
• The survey is the result of a collaboration between the National Highways and Transport (NHT) Network and the South West Highway Service Improvement Group.

• The survey is being carried out on behalf of the participating Local Authorities by market research specialist, Ipsos MORI.

• Participation in the survey is voluntary. It is believed to be the first survey of its kind to bring together a large number of separate highway authorities from all over England and parts of Wales to carry out their surveys in a comparable format

• The survey questionnaire is 12 pages long and covers all aspects of local highway and transport services (e.g. from the condition or roads and footways to the quality of local bus services). The questionnaire should be completed in around 20 minutes

• So far, almost 70 local authorities have signed up to take part in the combined survey: