2024 Residents’ Survey

We carried out our annual residents’ survey from 15 September to 15 October 2023.

There were 1,744 responses in total, compared to 1,240 in 2022.

The range of responses from all age categories was very similar to those in 2022.

All results are weighted by age to ensure the sample of responses accurately reflects the district’s population.

We conducted a separate, shorter survey with young people, between the ages of 11 and 18, between 9 October and 12 November 2023.  There were 264 responses.  We have incorporated the results of this survey into this report.

The survey asked a series of questions about the local area and public services People were asked to think about their local area as being somewhere no more than 20 minutes from where they lived.

Question 2: Overall, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with your local area as a place to live?

79% of people said they were either very satisfied or fairly satisfied, the same as in 2022.  11% of people were either fairly or very dissatisfied. The remaining 10% were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied.  This was reflected by 78% of young people who were very or fairly satisfied with their local area as a place to live.

Question 3: Overall, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with how Wychavon District Council runs things?

64% of people were either very satisfied or fairly satisfied, very slightly up from 63% in 2022.  Those that are dissatisfied decreased to 16% from 18%.

Question 4: To what extent do you agree or disagree that Wychavon District Council provides value for money?

51% of people agreed with the statement Wychavon District Council provides value for money, the same as in 2022, with 18% disagreeing and 31% neither agreeing or disagreeing.

Question 5: To what extent do you think Wychavon District Council acts on the concerns of local residents?

61% of people agreed either a great deal or a fair amount with the statement Wychavon acted on the concerns of local residents. This is higher than the 56% result in 2022. 

Question 6: Overall, how well informed do you think Wychavon District Council keeps residents about the services it provides?

69% of people said they felt well informed by us and 31% not well informed, an improvement on 2022.

Question 7: Do you agree or disagree that you can influence decisions affecting your local area?

36% of people agreed with the statement they could influence decisions in their local area, with 64% disagreeing. This is an improvement from 2022, which were 33% and 67% respectively.  A greater number of young people believe they can influence decisions, with 52% saying this was the case.

Question 8: If you don’t feel you can influence decisions in your local area, why is this?

People responded to this question in various ways.

• 48% said input from residents was not taken into account (down from 54% in 2022). 28% of young people agreed with this statement.
• 30% said they were unaware of any means of influencing decisions (up from 28% in 2022). 23% of young people agreed.
• 22% of people and 49% of young people gave other reasons which varied.

Question 9: How strongly do you feel you belong to your local area?

72% of people feel that they belong to their local area. This figure has remained somewhere between 72% and 76% for the past seven years. 28% said they felt not very or not at all strongly connected to their local area, slightly up from 2022.

Question 10: How safe or unsafe do you feel when outside in your local area after dark?

60% of people said they felt safe in their local area after dark. This has remained the same as 2022, but remains down from 67% in 2021. 21% said they felt unsafe and the remainder said they felt neither safe or unsafe.  Fewer young people felt safe in the dark, with only 36% feeling very safe or fairly safe in their local area.

Question 11: How safe or unsafe do you feel when outside in your local area during the day?

87% of people said they felt safe in their local area during the day, the same as 2022. 8% said they felt neither safe or unsafe with 5% saying they felt unsafe.  Slightly fewer young people felt safe in the day, with 78% feeling very safe or fairly safe.

Question 12: To what extent do you agree or disagree that your local area is a place where people from different backgrounds get on well together?

71% of people agreed with the statement which was the same in 2022. 23% disagreed with the statement.  This was reflected by 74% of young people who agreed that people get on well together in their local area.

Question 13: To what extent would you agree or disagree that people in this local area pull together to improve things?

50% of people agreed with the statement people in the local area pulled together to improve things. This is up from 48% in 2022.

Question 14: Thinking about your local area, how much of a problem do you think each of the following are…

We gave people a list of issues and asked them how much of a problem they thought they were in their local area. They could choose from a very big or fairly big problem and not a very big problem or not a problem at all.

Below is the list of issues ranked in order that residents felt were the biggest problems in their areas.

• 49% people dealing drugs
• 41% litter
• 33% vandalism, graffiti and deliberate damage to property
• 32% groups hanging around on the streets
• 30% people not treating each other with respect
• 25% people being drunk or rowdy in public places
• 15% noisy neighbours or loud parties

Concern about people dealing drugs; vandalism, graffiti and deliberate damage to property; groups hanging around on the streets; and people being drunk or rowdy in public places has increased slightly from 2022.  Concern about litter, people not treating each other with respect and noisy neighbours or loud parties, remain the same.

Our survey of school pupils under-18 found that a greater proportion of them felt all the issues were a problem in their local area.

Question 15: In the last year, how often have you felt lonely or socially isolated?

20% of people said they felt lonely or isolated often or some of the time during the last 12 months, the same as in 2022.  20% said occasionally, 30% said hardly ever and 29% said never.  More young people said they had felt lonely or isolated often or some of the time during the last 12 months, with 43% saying this was the case.

Question 16: Do you currently volunteer some time to work with others for a community group, local charity or in some other way in your area?

33% of people said they volunteered and 67% said they do not volunteer.  This was the same as 2022.

Question 17. Do you look after or give any help or support to family members, friends, neighbours or others because of long term physical or mental ill health or any other condition?

44% of people said they were looking after a family member, friend or neighbour because of a long-term condition, the same as 2022.  56% said no.  This was the same for young people, with 45% saying they did so.

Question 18: Thinking generally, which of the things would you say are the most important in making somewhere a good place to live?

We gave people a list of the things that they would say are the most important in making somewhere a good place to live.  Below is the list of the highest ranked issues in the order that residents felt were the most important.  This question was not asked in the 2022 survey, so a comparison with the 2021 survey has been made. 

Question 19: Thinking generally, what would you say most needs improving in your local area?

We gave people a list of the things that they would say most needs improving in their local area.  Below is the list of the highest ranked issues in the order that residents felt were the most important.  Young people were not asked this question. 

Question 20: Where do you want us to focus most during the next four years?

We gave people a list of things that they would want us to focus on during the next four years.  This question was last asked in 2019 as it helps determine the priorities, goals and promises for our four year strategy.  The new strategy is to be decided for 2024 – 2028.  Below is the list of the highest ranked issues in the order that residents felt were the most important.

Affordable homes (47%), crime and feeling safe (44%), health and wellbeing (29%), activities for children and young people (31%), and climate change impacts/carbon emissions (29%) were also important to young people.

Question 21: Which of your choices is top priority for us?

We gave people the same list as in question 20 and asked, ‘what would be your top priority from that list’.  All categories were broadly similar in what people considered were the top priority, however two areas that were slightly more prominent were crime and feeling safe, and traffic congestion.  This was similar for 2019.

Question 23: Please indicate your level of satisfaction for any services you have used or experienced in the last year. If you have not used a service, please choose 'not used'

The table below shows the various council services and satisfaction rates in 2023 compared to the 2022 and 2021 surveys.

Overall satisfaction with services is generally the same or with some slight improvements from 2022.

Question 24: How do you rate Wychavon District Council?

55% of people rate Wychavon as good or very good, 33% fair and 12% rated us poor or very poor.  This is similar to 2022 except for a reduction in those who rated us poor or very poor from 15% in 2022.

Question 28: How is your health in general? Would you say it is…?

72% of people said their health was good or very good. This was a slight decrease from 2022 which had not changed significantly in the last seven years. Just 6% of people felt their health was bad or very bad.

Question 29: Do you have any long-standing health condition or disability that limits your day-to-day activities? (Long-standing means anything that has troubled you over a period of at least 12 months or that is likely to affect you for at least 12 months).

34% of people said their health was limited in some way. This was a slight increase on 2022, which had not changed significantly in the last seven years.