Almost three quarters of panel members feel that the level of council tax for 2004/5 should be maintained at the same level as this year (72%), with the remainder almost equally divided between increasing and reducing the level.
Panel members were presented with a list of services and asked to say whether they feel the council currently spends too much, too little or about the right amount.
The table below shows the proportion expressing a view on each service (i.e. excluding those responding ‘don’t know), together with the proportion of those with an opinion who feel that the council currently spends too little, and therefore highlights the areas which should be considered as priorities for budget spending in the future.
The vast majority would support the idea of extra money being spent for ‘more help to allow elderly people to live independently in their homes for longer’ (95%).
Overall around three quarters were in favour of the idea of extra spending on ‘more public transport subsidies for the over 60’s’, ‘more youth services and facilities’ and ‘more school crossing patrols’.
Crime busters charter
Around a third feel that ‘burglary and housebreaking’ and ‘’car theft and theft from cars’ is either a major or a fairly big problem, and around a quarter put ‘anti-social behaviour’ and ‘problems arising from alcohol abuse’ in these categories.
Only 8% see violent crime as a major or fairly big problem; though a further 28% cite this as a minor problem.
Panel members were also asked to suggest ways in which children and young people could be involved in tackling crime and disorder. There was a long list of suggestions made – most by only a handful of people. The two top suggestions each involve input from schools; around a third suggested police going in to schools to talk to children; 17% called for education on crime in schools. A further 16% suggested out of school activities or clubs, and 13% simply said that parents should have greater control. All other suggestions were made by 5% or fewer panel members.
In terms of crime prevention measures, panel members see Community Policing as being the most important of those suggested – 40% rating this as essential and 41% as very important.
Measures to prevent alcohol sales to under 18s comes second on the list with two thirds opting for the ‘essential’ (32%) or ‘very important’ (34%) positions.
Around half feel that better street lighting would be essential (20%) or very important (27%) and an overall similar proportion feel that CCTV cameras would be useful (15% essential, 30% very important).
Although only 29% have such strong opinions about the positive benefits of a Neighbourhood Watch scheme, a further 51% rate it as fairly important.
There was a significant level of support for a drug education programme with 12% rating it as essential and 35% as very important. Panel members, however, were less convinced of the benefits of an alcohol education programme to try to stop people drinking too much, with a third rating this as unimportant.
Policing
Around half of the panel members are aware of The Humberside Police Area Policing Teams introduced in September 2001. This is similar to the proportion aware when the same question was asked on the survey carried out in May/June 2002.
Only 9%, however, know who their local beat officer is, compared with 17% on the previous survey.
Similarly, in May/June 2002 29% said they would know how to contact their local beat officer and this has fallen to 21% on the latest survey.
Whilst in May/June 2002 43% give a score of 1 to 3 (i.e. strongly disagree) to the notion that police officers had been much more visible since policing teams had been introduced, this rose to 65% on the latest survey.
Similarly, whilst around a third in the earlier survey refute any claims that there had been less anti-social behaviour or much less crime in their area, the latest figure shows more than half disagreeing with these claims.
As was the case on the previous survey, few agree that response times have greatly improved (3% scoring between 8 and 10), that there has been a significant improvement in relationships between police and public (2%), or that the police have a better understanding of problems in their area (5%).
Direct magazine
The majority of panel members believe that Direct Magazine has been effective in terms of making residents feel better informed about the council and its services – 17% feeling it has been very effective and 52% fairly effective.
Scunthorpe Community Consultation Groups
Around half the panel members live in the Scunthorpe area, and questions relating to the proposed Community Consultation Groups were addressed to them.
When asked to say what council services or local issues they would like to see addressed by such groups - 21% responded ‘don’t know’ and 15% ‘nothing’; amongst the remainder there was a long list of suggestions each made by only a handful of respondents.
Overall slightly more feel that community consultation groups would be effective (41%) than feel they would not be so (31%), though a significant proportion had no opinion on the matter (28%).