Shropshire residents asked for views on council’s highways and transport services

Local people are being asked for their views on Shropshire Council’s highways and transport services – from the condition of roads and footpaths to the quality of cycling facilities –  in the 2017 National Highways and Transport Public Satisfaction survey.

Their answers will be compared with the views of residents in other council areas across England and Scotland.

Shropshire Council is one of 112 councils 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 Sunderland.

The survey, which is being run for the tenth year, is the largest collaboration between councils, offering the opportunity to compare results, share in best practice and identify further opportunities to work together in the future.

The questionnaire will be sent to a minimum random sample of at least 3,300 Shropshire residents from Monday 19 June 2017, followed by a reminder, with local and national results to be published in mid-October 2017.  Since the survey is based on a sample, residents that receive a copy are being urged to take part.

Residents that receive the questionnaire can complete the survey online if they prefer. A short URL link will be printed on the front of the questionnaire and they will be required to enter a code before completing it.

The results will enable us to find out what people in the Shropshire Council area think about these important services. This will provide one of several ways that the council can assess how it’s performing. It gives the public an opportunity to say which services they think the council should prioritise, and improve.

Steve Davenport, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for highways and 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 with the least possible inconvenience to our residents and visitors alike.”

Further information

About the survey

• The National Highways and Transport (NHT) Network is a unique collaboration between councils across England and parts of Scotland with a common agenda – service improvement.
• The network provides an environment in which members can measure their own performance, compare with their peers and identify areas for improvement.
• The NHT Network and the Public Satisfaction Survey are managed by performance management specialists, measure2improve, the NHT Network administrators.
• The survey is being carried out on behalf of the participating councils 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 so many separate highway authorities from all over England and parts of Scotland 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 (eg from the condition or roads and footways to the quality of local bus services).  The questionnaire should be completed in around 20 minutes.
• Last year’s survey results and more information available via www.nhtnetwork.org

About Shropshire Council’s involvement

1. Shropshire Council is one of 112 councils taking part in 2017.
2. Participation enables Shropshire Council to demonstrate a transparent and responsive process for reviewing and responding to levels of public satisfaction with the local highway and transport service. The results enable performance to be assessed against a number of indicators which cover accessibility, public transport, walking and cycling, tackling congestion, road safety, and highway maintenance and enforcement.
3. Our ability to demonstrate this process forms part of the DfT’s incentivised funding assessment for continued highways funding.
4. In 2016, 938 questionnaires were completed in Shropshire, giving a response rate of 28.4%. This was above the average response rate of 24.4% across all participating councils.
5. In 2016, Shropshire was ranked 57^th for overall satisfaction with local highways and transport.
6. Compared to a peer group of 28 comparable councils, Shropshire Council was ranked highest for satisfaction for the following benchmark indicators in 2016:

• The condition of pavements
• Direction signposts for pedestrians
• Pavements being kept clear of obstruction
• Maintenance of highway verges / trees / shrubs
• Weed killing on pavements and roads
• Deals with flooding on roads and pavements.