About the survey Every year we invite 6,000 residents, selected at random, to complete our residents’ survey. The information we receive in the responses helps us to know what things matter most to the people that live and work in Thanet. It helps us to focus on those things.
If you have received an invitation to complete the 2022 Residents’ Survey please make sure you have your Unique Reference Number (printed on the postcard) ready before you begin the survey.
If you didn’t receive a postcard invitation to complete our Residents’ Survey this year, you can still get involved. Go to YourVoice.Thanet.gov.uk – our brand new community engagement platform – to share your thoughts on the council’s objectives for the next four years.
Where the council gets its money from Local councils receive money from central Government, income from Council Tax and business rates as well as from fees and charges for certain services provided. This income is used to provide services for local people.
For every £100 spent, this is generally how it is split between the various services we provide: Crematorium, cemeteries, environmental health, licensing, CCTV (15%), Port and Harbours (15%), Refuse and recycling (14%), Housing and homelessness (11%), Planning and regeneration (7%), Culture, recreation and tourism (7%), Finance, legal, HR and other overheads (7%), Car parks and parking (7%), Street and beach cleaning (6%), Elections and democracy (6%), Parks, playgrounds and open spaces (4%), Public toilets (2%).
Some of these services are free at the point of use (e.g. Refuse and recycling, Parks, playgrounds and open spaces) and are funded from Council Tax and grants from government. Other services may be fully or partially funded from fees and charges that are paid by the service user (e.g. Port and harbours, Car parks and parking).
Pie chart showing how council income per £100 is spent
How we are funded Each year we set a budget to decide how much we have available to spend on delivering services for Thanet’s residents and businesses. Council Tax currently funds just over one third of our total spending budget (37%). The income that is generated from fees and charges (38%) is very important to us too. The remainder of our funding comes from the government and other grants (25%)
For every £100 in funding we receive, this is how it is split between the different sources of income:
Sources of income for every £100 in funding received.
Our priorities We know from previous surveys that clean streets, thriving towns and feeling safe are top of the list things people both see as being important and being most in need of improvement. These are reflected in our corporate priorities which are Growth, Environment and Communities.
Clean Streets This year we set about making changes to the way we approach street cleaning and street bin emptying. We have divided Thanet into four zones and on any given day there are crews working across all four areas. They are busy emptying litter and dog bins on the streets and in parks or open spaces, clearing fly-tipping and loose waste from council housing communal bin stores, as well as general litter picking and tidying up. Our deep cleaning teams operate three days per week and rotate around the different areas in the district. They work with our Environmental Operatives and remove graffiti, spray alleyways for weeds and tackle areas that need a bit more attention.
We recently emptied the 12 new recycling stations we installed this summer on our main bathing beach promenades. Three tonnes of plastic, glass and metal waste were sent to be recycled instead of going to landfill, or ending up in our seas. On the back of this success, we are buying 20 new street recycling bins for town centres throughout the district.
Thriving Towns There has been a huge focus on how we can help our towns to thrive. Post Covid-19 we have successfully bid for a number of central government funds including the High Street Heritage Action Zone (HSHAZ), the Future High Streets Fund (FHSF) and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) – you can read more about them on the Regeneration pages on the council website. We secured Levelling Up funding totalling £26.1m of proposed public sector investment for the district. As there are two parliamentary constituency areas in Thanet, the council was able to put forward two bids that were backed by the local MP’s.
The two bids submitted included a package bid for Ramsgate, and a single project for Margate. Both were successful. The bid for Margate was for MargateDigital; a specialist, cutting-edge training space which will focus on digital technology, positioned in Margate High Street. The Ramsgate bid has three elements: The Port, The Royal Harbour and community access points at Newington and in central Ramsgate. Learn more about the projects here.
The Levelling Up Fund is in addition to the Margate Town Deal funding which saw Margate allocated up to £22.2m. This funding will help Margate prepare for the future with a focus on creating jobs, supporting town centres, boosting businesses and connecting people to where they live and work. As a Capital Fund it has to be used for tangible things such as buildings or public space. The goal is for more young people and adults to have the skills they need to find work and more businesses starting up and staying in Margate.
These are long-term projects which will lay the groundwork for our towns to thrive in the years to come.
Feeling Safe In addition to our ongoing work as part of the Thanet Community Safety Partnership our dedicated Community team works tirelessly all year round to engage with the local community and act on their concerns.
We launched the Community Shield scheme in July. The scheme creates a network of safe places throughout the district for anyone who may be lost, a victim of crime or in need of medical assistance. Participating businesses display a distinctive logo in their shop windows.
Members of the safe places scheme offer a safe location within their organisation and offer the person support while contacting the relevant authorities. It is built up of a network of organisations that have volunteered to be safe locations throughout the local community.
Learn more You can stay up to date with all the work we do in Thanet by subscribing to our monthly newsletter. More and more residents are signing up to hear news from us first hand: thanet.gov.uk/newsletter
