Markets
Over 80% visit markets with Scunthorpe being visited by the majority. Ashby and Brigg also attract significant numbers while Barton is only visited by 3%.
The range of markets in the North Lincs area attract a wide cross section of people with 80% of men, 84% of women, 77% of under 45's and 87% of those 45 and over visiting.
Overall 82% use markets with 52% visiting at least once a month and 30% visiting less often.
Scunthorpe market has the highest frequency of visiting with 31% visiting at least once a week. On average visitors to Scunthorpe market do so 1.9 times a month.
The overwhelming reason for visiting a particular market is that it is the nearest or most convenient for them (67%).
Fruit and veg is the most popular item to buy at markets closely followed by non food items. Meat is particularly popular at Scunthorpe market, while the main attraction to Ashby and Brigg is fruit & veg.
Nearly a half feel that meat is of better quality on the market they visit most often than at supermarkets. This is particularly the case at Brigg market. In the case of fruit & veg a rather lower proportion (38%) think it of better quality than at supermarkets, with Brigg market again having the largest group of shoppers thinking this.
Panel members were asked to rate, on a ten point scale, the market they used most frequently on a number of different factors. Overall layout and cleanliness were rated most highly with toilet facilities being rated particularly poorly.
There is little awareness amongst market users of who they should contact if they needed assistance with only 20% claiming to know. There is greater awareness of to whom complaints should be made with 37% overall claiming to know.
Finally in this section all respondents were asked if they would visit Scunthorpe market more or less often it moved to Church Square. On balance 5% more said they would visit more often than those saying less often.
Contacting the Council by telephone
More than 40% of Panel Members had contacted the Council by telephone in the last 12 months.
If respondents had contacted or tried to contact the Council they were then asked a number of questions about their contact. More than a fifth found it difficult to get through to the right person.
The biggest problem experienced when making contact by phone was being passed around between departments or within departments which was mentioned by more than two thirds.
Just over half (54%) felt that the council did enough to publicise phone numbers, 28% thought they did not while 18% did not know whether they did or not. Of those that felt the Council were not doing enough to publicise phone numbers 56% claimed not to have seen the information anywhere. This equates to 38% of the panel as a whole.
Dealing with the Council electronically
Nearly 50% now have access to the internet and email either from home or work while just over 40% have access from home.
Amongst those who do not have access to the Internet there is little enthusiasm for contacting the Council via facilities provided at a range of possible locations. The most popular location would be the local library but only 8% of the panel would be likely to use this facility.
Those however who already use or are likely to use the Internet appear to be very willing to use it in their dealings with the Council. For four types of contact well over 50% would be likely to use the Internet.
A significant proportion of this group would also like to be able to access a number of other local services via the Internet and in particular health related services. Half would like to be able to contact the Police via the Internet
A significant minority of those who use or are likely to use the Internet would not wish to report crimes or incidents to the Police by email the main reason being that they would prefer to speak to someone in person.
Waste Management
There is strong support for the view that household waste produced in North Lincs should be disposed of within the area with 83% agreeing and only 6% disagreeing.
Similarly there is also strong support for the burning of waste to produce energy rather than landfilling with 71%agreeing and 10% disagreeing.
Once the level of recycling reaches the required 24% level the majority of respondents feel that the Council should then look for less expensive methods of recovering energy from waste.
Respondents were asked how familiar they were with a number of terms used in waste management. Nearly everyone was familiar with the most common terms and the great majority understood what they mean. For some terms however relatively few were familiar i.e. sustainable waste management and proximity principle with even fewer claiming to fully understand what they mean.
The new Council Magazine - Direct
Just over a third can remember receiving a copy of Direct and nearly all these have looked at it. A third of those looking at it intend to read it in more detail later and the overall average time spent looking at it was 6.9 minutes.
Those who had looked at the magazine were asked to rate it out of ten on three factors. The layout and design was rated highest with 55% rating it 7 or higher with an average score of 6.9. It was however not rated as well in terms of interest or usefulness with just around 40% rating it 7 or above on these two factors with both achieving an average score of 5.9.
Despite this lower rating in terms of usefulness 83% of those who looked at it thought it would be useful in the future. Overall 40 respondents thought the magazine was not useful 22 of whom considered it not to contain anything of interest while only 6 thought it to be a waste of money.
Policing
Respondents were asked a number of questions about policing, the first of which related to methods of communication between the Police and the general public.
From the possible range of options local newspapers were thought to be effective by the greatest proportion. Local radio and the Council's Direct magazine were also thought to be effective by between 70% and 80%.
By far the most effective means of communication was however thought to be local newspapers, mentioned by 57%.
Two thirds claimed to know what a Police Liaison meeting is, with 8% having ever been to one. Awareness is lowest in the 17-24 age group while those over 55 are more likely to have attended one.
70% are aware of the Police working to solve community safety problems in partnership with other organisations but again awareness is lowest amongst those aged 17-24.
When asked about how many police officers work in North Lincolnshire on patrol duties and in desk jobs there was a wide range of views ranging from less than 50 to over 10,000. The highest proportion thinking it to be between 101 and 200.
It is also pertinent to note that the numbers of officers in desk jobs are thought to be about equal with those carrying out patrol duties.