North Lincolnshire Identity
The majority of panel members believe that North Lincolnshire has been reasonably successful in establishing a strong identity - 64% rating it as 'quite successful' and 14% as 'very successful' .
A similar proportion believe that North Lincolnshire Council has a good image - 68% rating it as 'quite good' and 5% as 'very good'.
Overall, 95% of panel members rate North Lincolnshire as a good place to live - 42% rating it as 'very good'.
Children's Fund
Funds are available to help prevent children in the 5 to 13 age getting into trouble. A series of questions were asked to help determine where best these funds should be directed.
Whilst around half feel that emphasis for the Children's Fund needs to be both inside and outside school, 41% feel that behaviour outside school hours is where the fund should be targeted. Three-quarters also feel that all children in the 5 to 13 age range should be targeted.
When asked about the reasons children in this age range might get into trouble, the main perception relates to lack of care from parents (81% believing this to be a major factor), closely followed by availability of drugs and alcohol (77%), boredom (76%) and problems at home (75%).
Issues such as problems with friends and relationships, problems at school and poverty were perceived as contributing less to potential trouble from this age group.
A quarter of panel members feel that it is essential for children of this age to have someone they can trust to talk to, with a further 55% believing this to be a very important factor in helping them stay out of trouble.
Somewhere to go at weekends/school holidays and after school are felt to be either essential or very important by around 70% of panel members.
Whilst 59% see opportunities to be involved in challenging and different activities as essential or very important, fewer feel that this should involve activities outside their immediate community (41%).
Around half feel that making new friends is essential or very important, and 44% feel that extra help with school work is a key factor.
The Environment
When asked about efforts made to help the environment in terms of water usage, it tends to be those activities which also save electricity which receive most attention e.g. using the washing machine only for a full load, which three-quarters say they always do, and only filling the kettle with the amount of water needed (56%).
People tend to consider water usage less in other ways e.g. 37% say they always use rain water or previously used water on the garden, and fewer avoid leaving taps running when cleaning their teeth (29%) or washing their hands (16%). Only 39% say they always take a shower rather than a bath.
Access to Council Services
Around half the panel members feel that they receive as much information as they would like about council services. Whilst there were 3-4% who responded 'don't know' at these questions, the remainder felt that they did not receive as much information as they would like.
Contacting the Council
Overall, 46% of panel members have contacted the council in the last twelve months.
Around 90% were happy with their contact with the council in terms of the courtesy and helpfulness of the staff, staff listening carefully to what they had to say and being treated fairly and with respect.
Somewhat fewer were happy with the clarity and accuracy of the information they were given (81%), being put in touch promptly with the right person (78%), their comments and complaints being welcomed (78%) and the process of being transferred during a call (74%).
Performance was worst, however, where the council had got something wrong - 21% of those to whom this applied responded 'unacceptable' to the statement 'the council apologised and tried to put things right if it had got something wrong'; a further 19% said that they way they were dealt with was poor.
Almost half of all the poor/unacceptable ratings related to two departments - housing and rates/benefits/council tax.
Policing
When presented with five methods by which the police could provide reassurance to the public and asked to rank them in order of importance, two of the five were consistently ranked much higher than the others. More than half put 'A highly visible police presence on the streets' as their top priority and a further 27% as second.
'A speedier response to emergency calls' was top priority for 27% of panel members with a further 31% putting this second.
Overall, 88% of panel members expressed concern over the possibility of being a victim of house burglary in the next year (41% being very concerned). More than three-quarters of those with a car are concerned about theft of or from the car.
Almost two-thirds fear being a victim of youths causing annoyance, and 61% being attacked or assaulted.
Panel members were first asked how they would like to be contacted to be kept informed about the progress of any enquiry they made to the police on the sixth survey in February/March 2001, and were asked the same question on this latest survey.
The results show a decrease in the proportion preferring a telephone call (55% down to 48%) and a substantial increase in those opting for a home visit (29% previously up to 53% on the latest survey).