The results of our Residents’ Survey are in, with three times as many responses, and feedback highlighting what we can be proud of and what we need to work on.
We had a record 3,010 responses which is more than three times the amount we had in 2018 (which was 801) - with a good representation from across the district.
The purpose of the survey was to understand more about what you think of our services and to inform our strategy development.
There was good satisfaction with the 76,000 bin collections we make every week, with 79% of those responding saying they are satisfied or very satisfied – which was 1% above the local government benchmark.
And satisfaction with the local area is 2% above the benchmark, with 77% of respondents being either very or fairly satisfied.
In total 69% of respondents think our approach to achieve net zero by 2035 is effective and 31% of those who responded said they would be prepared to pay more council tax to support the green agenda.
We face increasing financial challenges with less support from central government, so we asked for your thoughts on how we continue to deliver our frontline services and 53% of respondents said we should fund services by increasing fees and charges and keeping council tax the same.
And 41% of respondents said they would actually pay more to support the work we do.
The results for how safe you feel in the area were lower than the Local Government Association benchmark – but we are already taking steps which we hope will help with this by launching our district team which will investigate fly-tips, actively manage anti-social behaviour, enforce litter laws and help handle dangerous and inconsiderate parking.
Cllr Richard Millard, Leader of EHDC, said: “What our residents need is fundamentally what drives our strategy so this survey is an important part of the insight we gather to fully understand our communities.
“The full picture enables us to properly plan and prioritise what we can deliver.
“Some of this feedback is really positive and we can be proud of it and some of it highlights areas where we can improve. It’s important we ask these questions so we can continually improve, change our priorities if needed and focus on what really matters to you.”
We offered a £150 prize draw to encourage residents to take part in the survey and the winner was Gillian Cornish, from Petersfield.