The 2008 Place Survey provides information on people’s perceptions of their local area and the local services they receive. This release summarises the headline findings for England and Government Office regions with results for individual local authorities shown in the accompanying tables.
The survey collects information on 18 national indicators for local government, used to measure local government performance for 152 county councils, metropolitan district councils, London boroughs and unitary authorities. While the Place Survey is primarily intended for use at a local level, national and regional results are provided for benchmarking purposes. The key points from the latest release are:
About your local area
* 80 per cent of the population were satisfied with their local area as a place to live
* 59 per cent felt they belong to their immediate neighbourhood
Your local public services
* 33 per cent agreed or strongly agreed that their local council provided value for money
* 45 per cent were, taking everything into account, satisfied with the way their local council runs things
Local decision-making
* 29 per cent felt they could influence decisions in their local area
Helping out
* 23 per cent had participated in formal volunteering at least once a month in the last twelve months
Getting involved
* In the last 12 months, 14 per cent of the population had been involved in local decision-making (for example, being a member of a committee or groups relating to local services, education or standing as a local councillor)
http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/placesurvey2008
