So how good are York Council services?
The results of two recent surveys allow us to measure what residents say are good and bad about City of York Council services.
The Council’s own “Talkabout” panel has given a verdict this summer.
Talkabout panel results – click to access
Best service
It is the first comprehensive look at customer satisfaction with services in the City since polls were scrapped by the, then Labour led, administration in 2013.
These can be compared to a more detailed survey being undertaken in west York where residents have also given a verdict on service quality.
The Talkabout respondents indicate that satisfaction with their local area as a place to live has increased for 83% in 2013 to 92% today.
Worst service – road repairs
66% of the panel are satisfied with the way that the Council runs thing compared to 54% three years ago
One of the few areas judged to be deteriorating was law and order. 77% said that York is relatively free from crime and violence compared to 80% in 2013.
Looking at street level services, 39% (2013 – 33%) though litter was a problem in their local area although the majority (61%) still thought litter was not a problem.
Problems with vandalism showed small increases (17% up to 18%), as did drug dealing (15% up to 26%) and drunk/rowdy behaviour (25% up to 30%)
The numbers who though that the Council was doing well in at improving green spaces was static at 48% but those who thought the Council was doing well in improving streets/public spaces was down from 49% to 45%.
Looking at the more detailed poll conducted in west York, it may be significant that the 4 most criticised public services (footpath repairs, road repairs, the availability of litter bins and local car parking facilities) were not monitored in the citywide survey.
Although most residents indicated that other services were “satisfactory” there were large numbers of people who rated some services as poor.
These included weed control (31% poor), tree/hedge maintenance (36%), Policing (31%), and garage area maintenance (20%).
The top ranked services were refuse collection (91% rated satisfactory or good), recycling (92%) and street lighting (89%)