Information on Loughborough

Survey to map roads views

Posted on 30/06/2009

Leicestershire Councty Council Highways, Transportation & Waste Management

29 June 2009

Survey to map roads views

Leicestershire residents are being asked to give their views on roads and transport as part of a national survey.

The County Council is one of 76 local authorities to have signed up and copies will be landing on the doormats of around 5,000 households across the county from today.

The questionnaire covers all aspects including the condition or roads and pavements and quality of local bus services and should take around 20 minutes to complete.

Each area's survey uses set questions meaning people will be asked the same whether they live in Leicestershire, Lincolnshire or Luton, or anywhere else.

Recent national figures show that Leicestershire's roads are among the best in the country - these reveal that only 2% of Leicestershire’s 'A' roads, 4% of other significant roads and 9% of minor roads need major maintenance.

Local and national results from the National Highways and Transport (NHT) Network Public Satisfaction Survey are expected to be published later in the summer.

Lesley Pendleton, County Council Cabinet Member for Highways and Transportation, said: “As well as providing good value for money, this survey will also enable us to pinpoint areas of best practice and spot national, regional and local trends.

"The condition of our roads is among the best in the country but we want to understand our customers’ views better and continue to deliver excellent services to the people of Leicestershire.”

Peter Radford, Chair of the NHT Survey Committee, said: “There are clear benefits to conducting a public survey in this way. This is not about producing a league table to champion one geographical area over another, it is about understanding customer views better and working together to deliver the best possible outcomes for local residents.”

Notes:

•The survey is the result of a collaboration between the National Highways & Transport Network and the County Surveyors Society South West Highway Service Improvement Group, and is being supported by a number of the Regional Improvement & Efficiency Partnerships (RIEPs) most notably the South West RIEP, which has provided two tranches of funding for improvements to the mapping/reporting capabilities of the NHT Survey database.

•The survey is being carried out on behalf of the participating Local Authorities by market research specialist, Ipsos MORI.

•Participation in the survey is voluntary.  The survey was carried out for the first time last year with 33 authorities participating. The 2009 survey has seen a 133% increase in uptake on 2008. It is believed to be the first time such a large number of separate highway authorities from all over the country have joined forces to carry out their surveys in a comparable format

•The survey questionnaire is 12 pages long and covers all aspects of local highway and transport services (e.g. from the condition or roads and footways to the quality of local bus services).  The questionnaire should be completed in around 20 minutes