Council's services rated

A range of the council's services have been rated as part of a national survey.

Hertsmere Borough Council was required to conduct three surveys at the end of last year and more than 1000 residents contributed, telling us how we have performed in a number of key areas. The results form part of national Best Value Performance Indicators and every council across the country was required by the Audit Commission to take part.

Cllr John Graham, Leader of the Council, said: "The results are encouraging as we have worked hard to make improvements but clearly there are areas where we can improve further and we will be talking with some of the councils who have achieved higher ratings to see what we can learn from them.

"We want to ensure that we deliver to our residents the best possible service we can afford and we will continue to look at ways of improving our service wherever we can."

• Best value general user survey (75 page PDF - 734KB)
• Best value benefits survey (46 page PDF - 530KB)
• Best value planning survey (18 page PDF - 101KB)

Key results from the general survey include:

• 51% of respondents are satisfied with the overall service provided by the council, just below the national average of 54%.
• 65% of respondents are satisfied with the cleanliness of the area, in keeping land clear of litter and waste. This is slightly below the national average of 68%, but is an increase of 12% for Hertsmere than when measured three years ago.
• 70% are satisfied with sports and leisure facilities, compared to 58% nationally.

The survey also found that before we introduced our ABC scheme, 58% of people were satisfied with their doorstep waste recycling, below the national average of 70%. However a subsequent survey following the introduction of the ABC scheme, found that it was regarded positively and was user friendly. Sixty percent agreed that they had been well informed about it and importantly, the scheme appears to have reached its objectives, both encouraging respondents to recycle more (70% of respondents agree with this) and providing them with the practical opportunities to recycle more (74%).