Published on:
30
January 2013
The Clackmannanshire Alliance has released the results of its regular Clacks 1000 survey, revealing that more people feel Clackmannanshire is a good place to live.
The survey of 1000 panel members covers topics such as health, public services, community safety and employment and training opportunities and is conducted annually.
The proportion of respondents satisfied with Clackmannanshire as a place to live has risen slightly, to 86%, and those satisfied with their neighbourhood has also risen slightly, to 90%.
In relation to perceptions of Clackmannanshire, positive views were recorded among Panel members for improving its accessibility (72%), a cost effective living and business location (57%) and that it has a strong sense of community (54%).
Respondents were asked to indicate which aspects of their immediate neighbourhood they particularly like or value. A quiet and peaceful area (66%), a good outlook/view (64%), good neighbours (64%), friendly people (63%) and good air quality (63%) were the most important factors to emerge from Clackmannanshire as a whole, the same factors which scored highly in 2011.
Overall, encouraging people to be more environmentally friendly emerged as the community planning priority with the highest satisfaction rating (70%), while 47% were also satisfied with improving road safety and 44% each satisfied with improving transport and promoting health and well being.
Over three quarters (83%) rated their experience of public services in Clackmannanshire as either 'very good' or 'fairly good', a slight rise on the 78% of Panel members recorded in 2011.
Panel members' experiences of the individual public services they have used in the last year provide very positive ratings for most services, primary schools (95%), refuse collection / recycling (93%) and hospitals (92%).
Depute Council Leader Craig Holden, said, "I'd like to thank the panel members who have consistently taken the time to let us have their views. This encouraging result shows that moves made by Clackmannanshire Council, the local health services, Central Scotland Police and our other partners to improve neighbourhoods are having an effect."
The survey included questions asking about awareness of the Government's Welfare Reform programme. The response shows that awareness is low, with just over a quarter (27%) saying they are 'very aware' or 'quite aware'. Conversely, 64% stated they are 'not very aware' or 'not at all aware'. The Council is working with partners to try to raise awareness of this Government programme which will bring sweeping changes to the current benefit arrangements.
Views from the Clacks 1000 survey are used to inform Council and partner policies. The Clackmannanshire Alliance heard at its September 2011 meeting that there was a gap between the performance of some Services as evidenced by performance indicators and public perceptions of the performance of services. The Alliance subsequently arranged a series of focus groups with Clacks 1000 panel members to investigate this discrepancy. In the course of the focus groups, participants indicated a strong interest in choice of performance indicators.
A workshop for community partners was held on in March 2012. Community representatives from Alloa, Dollar, Sauchie and Tullibody areas attended. Its purpose was to gather suggestions on measuring the performance of the services and activities which matter to our communities.
In group work format, participants first listed in their own words the services and activities which matter to their communities, giving a brief rationale for their suggestions. They then suggested what the key aspect of each service/activity is and how communities would know if the service was performing well.
Clackmannanshire Alliance provides strategic vision and direction for community planning as well as monitoring the implementation of the Community Plan and the Single Outcome Agreement. The Alliance meets quarterly and is chaired by the Leader of the Council.
Members of the Alliance include representatives of: Clackmannanshire Council; NHS Forth Valley; Central Scotland Police; Central Scotland Fire and Rescue Service; Forth Valley College; Clackmannanshire Business; Clackmannanshire Joint Community Council Forum; Clackmannanshire Tenants & Residents Federation; Clackmannanshire Third Sector Interface.