Budget survey - summary of findings

• Waste collection and cleanliness were the top two priority services for resident.
  
  
•  When asked to rank the council’s discretionary services in order of priority, on the whole feedback for this question was very mixed.  The one clear result was that ‘Economic development and regeneration’ was identified as the highest priority for residents with over 50% rating it their top or second highest priority.  Parks and open spaces and crematoria/cemeteries were also rated as higher priorities. 
  
  
• When asked about making savings and generating income, almost two thirds of people rated internal re-organisation of staff as their first or second priority.  ‘Sharing services with other councils’ was the second most popular choice with over half rating this as their top or second priority.  Increasing council charges was the least popular way to generate savings with over 75% ranking this a 4 or 5.
  
  
• The three council services which most people have paid a charge for over the past 12 months are car parking, leisure clubs/gyms/swimming pools and local museums and arts facilities.  Three out of four people have paid a charge for car parking, almost a third have paid a charge for leisure clubs/gyms/swimming pools and over 20% have paid for local museums and arts facilities.
  
  
• The majority of people agreed that they understood the way the council raises money, that information on how the council raises and spends money is available if people want it, that information on how the council raises and spends money is useful and that residents are given an opportunity to help the council shape how it spends money.