Agenda item

REPORT OF THE SERVICE DIRECTOR – PLACE

To advise Cabinet of the key findings from the Community Survey Round Two results (March – May 2024).

RESOLVED: That Cabinet commented on and noted the key findings and observations from round two of the Community Survey and comment on the approach to future surveys (as detailed in section 8.7.2).

REASON FOR DECISION: To ensure that Cabinet are aware of the round two results of our digital Community Survey and how they compare to both our round one (2023) results and the Local Government Association (LGA) February 2024 Resident Satisfaction phone survey results.

Audio recording – 7 minutes 52 seconds

The Chair invited Councillor Matt Barnes, as Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, to present the referral on this item. Councillor Barnes advised that:

·       Resident satisfaction levels had improved when compared to the community survey from last year, with the exception of ‘to what extent are you aware of what your local councillor does in your local area’ being the only question which saw a decline.

·       It was noted that the contract with Zencity ran until March 2025.

·       There would be two further opportunities for future surveys to be conducted by Zencity before the contracted ended and the use of a hybrid survey should be considered for surveys once the contract with Zencity ended for future surveys.

·       There had been discussion around what could be done to improve communications with young people, following feedback received in the open-ended question, including working more with schools and providing low-cost activities.

The Leader of the Council presented the report entitled ‘Community Survey Round Two Results’ and advised that:

·       The first digital residents survey conducted by the Council was carried out last year by Zencity.

·       A second survey had now been carried out so the results could be compared with the results from the last survey.

·       It should be noted that a digital survey was only one of the ways that the Council received comments from residents.

·       There was good news that satisfaction levels had either improved or remained the same as last year, with the only decline occurring where residents did not know what the councillor did in their local area.

The following Members asked questions:

·       Councillor Tamsin Thomas

·       Councillor Amy Allen

·       Councillor Daniel Allen

In response to questions, the Communications Manager advised that:

·       A conversation with Zencity would be required to see if the five areas in the report could be expanded for a future survey. If this was not possible, it may be possible that the open-ended feedback may give greater location detail, but this would need to be checked.  

·       There was a limit to the number of questions that could be asked, and these questions were matched to as many of the LGA questions as possible to enable benchmarking.

·       When the current contract ended with Zencity, the Council would be looking into new, more flexible surveying options which would enable the Council to ask more in depth questions and also the ability to increase the number of questions.

The following Members took part in a debate:

·       Councillor Ian Albert

·       Councillor Daniel Allen

·       Councillor Tamsin Thomas

Points raised in the debate included:

·       The importance of listening to resident feedback from the survey and through social media platforms to show what the Council was doing to improve communications as highlighted in para 8.7.1 of the report.

·       A new approach for the communications team to consider for the next survey was outlined in paragraph 8.7.2.2 of the report.

·       The Council needed to find the best way to reach young people for their feedback, which could include a citizens panel.

·       A very useful poster had been produced which described the differences between the services of North Hertfordshire District Council and those of Hertfordshire County Council.

·       The Community Forums and Councillor Surgeries should consider ways to encourage residents to complete surveys and to communicate more with their local councillors at their meetings.

·       The Hitchin Forum meeting held in person had considered how the Council could communicate with young people regarding the Churchgate consultation and was felt to be successful. This experience could be used when considering engagement with young people on other projects.

Councillor Daniel Alen proposed and Councillor Val Bryant seconded and, following a vote, it was:

RESOLVED: That Cabinet commented on and noted the key findings and observations from round two of the Community Survey and comment on the approach to future surveys (as detailed in section 8.7.2).

REASON FOR DECISION: To ensure that Cabinet are aware of the round two results of our digital Community Survey and how they compare to both our round one (2023) results and the Local Government Association (LGA) February 2024 Resident Satisfaction phone survey results.