Lib Dems welcome vote of confidence in Council and its services (Sutton Coldfield and Erdington Liberal Democrats)

Sutton Coldfield and Erdington Liberal Democrats <info@suttonanderdingtonlibdems.org.uk>

Lib Dems welcome vote of confidence in Council and its services

December 2, 2009 10:56 PM

Birmingham Council House - a recent independent survey shows residents think Council services are getting better

Cllr Ann Holtom, Liberal Democrat (Tyburn Ward), commenting on the results of an opinion survey conducted by BMG Research, said how heartening it was to see that Birmingham people are increasingly satisfied with the performance of the City Council.

Cllr Holtom said: "I was particularly pleased to see that 67% of people surveyed said that they were satisfied with the Council & its services. This is more than double the satisfaction rating that was reported when the Council was Labour controlled and is a vote of confidence in the way the Lib Dem partnership is running the Council.

Other highlights of the survey include:

• 68% of respondents believe that the Council is trustworthy - up 14% on last year.

• 66% felt that the Council was well run & efficient, again this was up by 13% on the previous survey.

• 64% were of the opinion that the Council acts on residents concerns which is up by 11% when compared with last year.

• 71% believed that the Council was making our city safer and 70% were of the opinion that Birmingham is a cleaner & greener place in which to live, up by 7% & 6% respectively.

The report also highlighted people's priorities in the key areas of crime, employment & housing. Cllr Holtom said she was aware that these are also the three key areas for residents across her ward.

• Dealing with crime 23%

• Helping people find jobs 14%

• Making people feel safer 17%

• Providing more affordable housing 19%

• Providing high quality public services 11%

When the results were broken down into a ward based format the satisfaction levels of Tyburn residents were as follows:

• Satisfaction in dealing with crime & anti social behaviour - high, (although Cllr Holtom said she believed that the satisfaction rating of 48% could be improved upon).

• Satisfaction with the cleanliness of open spaces - very high

• Satisfaction with the removal of graffiti - very high

• Satisfaction with household waste collections - acceptable

• Use of recycling centres - high

The report clearly demonstrates that the view of the Council and its services has in people's perceptions improved over the last few years. Yes, the Council can still get things wrong, but we are moving in the right direction and Ann has renewed her pledge to work hard to ensure that these service improvements continue.