Citizen Survey 2024
What is the Citizen Survey?
In 2024, West Lancashire Borough Council undertook a Citizen Survey of residents, covering the topics of ‘Your Local Area’, ‘Interaction with the Council’, ‘Your Borough', and 'Local Services’.
The survey was issued by post to 5,700 households in June 2024 with an option to be completed digitally and the survey closed in August 2024.
In total 917 questionnaires were returned from the targeted sample of residents (postal or email), giving a response rate of 16%.
In addition, there were a further 594 'general online' survey responses from the general population, these results were not weighted.
What were the key findings?
Some of the main findings in relation to satisfaction are set out below. Overall, the results show an improved position on 2019 feedback and whilst we recognise that the response is positive, we also recognise that there is room for improvement and the statistics will help us assign our resource appropriately.
Thinking about their local area:
79% of respondents are satisfied with their local area as a place to live. Although satisfaction has reduced slightly since 2022, most residents still feel positive about their local area.
Most residents (67%) said they are satisfied with the way the Council runs things. This is slightly lower than the 74% reported in 2022. This feedback helps us to understand where we can improve and make positive changes.
Most residents (89%) are satisfied with refuse and recycling collection service. This is very similar to the 86% reported in 2022, showing that the service continues to perform well.
Just over half of residents (53%) are satisfied with street cleaning services. Whilst this is slightly lower than the 2022 results (58%), the feedback helps us understand where improvements can be made.
As in previous years, residents mainly use the Council website to find information. This year 74% of respondents said they use the website, up from 71% in 2022, with half of all respondents (51%) said they use the website to apply for or pay for a service online.
40% of residents feel well informed about Council services and benefits. This is similar to the 2022 result (41%). This indicates we are maintaining a steady level of communication while giving us clear opportunities to improve further.
78% agreed that West Lancashire is a safe and secure place to live. While this is slightly lower than the 88% reported in 2022, it still reflects a strong sense of safety across the borough. This helps us to understand how people feel about safety and highlights where we can work with partners such as the Police and other local agencies to help keep our communities safe.
What next?
The data has provided some invaluable insight and provides the Council with clear indications where citizens would like to see improvements. We will share the data with Senior Managers through a Task and Finish so we can develop an action plan to identify and progress key outcomes to improve customer satisfaction with the services provided by the Council and its partner agencies.
A link to the full report can be found by clicking here
Previous results
For information on previous survey see below:
