Oxford City Council Talkback Panel: Spring 2014
Action Plan
Introduction
This report summarises the results of the Spring 2014 Talkback Panel survey and outlines
the actions taken or planned. The survey was carried out 17/2/14 – 17/3/14 by Ipsos MORI
and their full report can be viewed at
http://consultation.oxford.gov.uk/consult.ti/TalkbackSpr2014/consultationHome The
survey covered the Living in Oxford/ Resident Satisfaction and some questions related to
Smartphone usage. The questions will be covered in turn, with page numbers that refer to
the full report.
Questions 1 and 2. (page 10 – 13)
Seek to understand the importance and satisfaction level of a variety of aspects of living in
Oxford. The results are presented below:
Q1/Q2
100%
90%
Needs improvement
80%
70%
Road/pavement repairs
60%
Traffic congestion
50%
Affordable decent housing
40%
Clean streets
30%
Activities for teens
20%
Pollution
10%
0%
Wage levels/cost of living
Shopping facilities
Sports/leisure
Community
Job prospects
Facilities for kids
People get on well Access to nature
0%
10%
20%
Crime
Public transport
Education
Health services
Cultural facilites
30%
Parks/open spaces
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Importance
Base: All valid responses (up to 5 responses only) : Spring 2014 Q1 (323); Q2 (321) :
Fieldwork dates : 17 February – 17 March 2014
Source: Ipsos MORI / Oxford City Council
Use the Crop Figure Heading button on each chart/figure you insert – this text will then be deleted
Areas for concern lie in the top right-hand quadrant. The shortage of affordable decent
housing is a well-understood problem that is addressed through the Corporate Plan, Budget
and the revised Housing Strategy.
Issues in the top left-hand quadrant have been discussed with the relevant officers and
managers and passed to relevant officers at the County Council.
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Oxford City Council Highway & Engineering is responsible for the maintenance of the nonclassified road network in the City. It has recently been granted extra funding from central
government via Oxfordshire County Council to aid in the remedy of the existing defects on
our network. The additional funding will also be put to use in undertaking pothole
preventative measures such as larger patching schemes. Since May, the resources assigned
to highway maintenance have been increased and the outturn in defects has greatly
improved.
Question 3 (page 14)
Asks how satisfied people are with their local area as a place to live. “Local” is defined as 1520 minutes’ walk from home. The score of 87% is higher than last year (83%) and higher
than the most recent LGA quarterly residents’ survey (84%).
Question 4 (page 15-16)
Deals with cleanliness across the city and here we see that there has been a drop in
satisfaction in both the city centre (from 68% last year to 56%) and green neighbourhood
spaces (from 64% to 55%).
SPECIFIC ACTIONS AS A RESULT OF THIS SURVEY: ward level analysis has been carried out by
the Cleaner, Greener Programme Board (for May 18th 2014 meeting) and actions are being
carried forward, see annex 1 below.
Question 5 (page 16-18)
Seeks to understand the level of satisfaction of a variety of services provided by the City
Council or County Council. Key points and actions:





Satisfaction with refuse collection 84% exceeded target of 80%
Satisfaction with museums and galleries increased from 69% last year to 79%,
especially among the under 45s. This will be used to inform the Culture Strategy
2015-18, which is currently in development
Satisfaction with sport/leisure facilities has dropped from 51% to 45%. There are
several initiatives underway, including: the pavilions programme, tennis courts
programme and MUGA (multi use games area) programme are midway through.
There is also a plan to improve Horspath Athletics Ground by 2017. A deeper dive
into the data will be carried out with support from Consultation Officer, in November
2014.
Feedback on services provided by Oxfordshire County Council have been
communicated to relevant officers. Local bus services and local transport
information, local tips/H Waste and Recycling Centres, and Libraries.
Other actions will be carried forward by the Cleaner, Greener Programme Board. See
annex 1 below.
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Question 6
This question gave responders the chance to add additional comments related to the
services listed in Question 5. These have all been forwarded to the relevant officers and
managers.
Question 7 (page 19 – 20)
Asks how well informed residents feel about a variety of topics that largely relate to the
democratic process. The results are mainly very positive especially within the regeneration
areas. There is now a significant gap between “Feeling informed about what to do in the
event of a large-scale emergency” and the other topics.
SPECIFIC ACTIONS AS A RESULT OF THIS SURVEY: Mike Newman will input these results into
the next review of the county-wide emergency plan.
Question 8 (page 21)
This question asks about volunteering. 66% of respondents had volunteered over the
preceding 12 months.
Questions 9 and 10 (page 22- 23)
Relate to social cohesion. 13% of respondents think that people from different nationalities
or ethnicities do not get on well with each other. This is up from 12% (2012), 10% (2011)
and 10% (2010). By contrast, the proportion of people who think that there is a problem
with treating people in their local area with resect has dropped to 13% this year, compared
to 23% (2012), 18% (2011) and 18% (2010).
SPECIFIC ACTIONS AS A RESULT OF THIS SURVEY: Community Plans will help to address the
negative trends.
Question 11 (page25)
Asks whether respondents have been treated with respect by local services (City Council,
County Council and Thames Valley Police). 4% replied “rarely” or “never” which compares to
3%, 2% and 3% for the prior three years. The 15% “don’t know” suggests that a number of
responders have not knowingly had any interaction with these local service providers.
Question 12 (page 27)
Presents 10 cleanliness- related problems. The percentage of respondents who identified
litter levels as a problem has dropped from 69% to 60%, while the increase in weeds may be
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attributable to the time of year when the survey was carried out (Spring for this survey,
Winter for the last survey).
SPECIFIC ACTIONS AS A RESULT OF THIS SURVEY: will be carried forward by the Cleaner,
Greener Programme Board. See below.
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Annex 1 Cleaner, Greener Programme Board response to the Talkback Report Spring 2014
The Cleaner Greener campaign is focusing in the city centre in August 2014, which will deep
clean the area and focus on staining issues. With regards to chewing gum, new machines are
being used, called Gum Busters which are improving the removal of gum. This is an area of
focus for 2014/15. The team are looking at the possibility of new bins in the city centre to
improve litter disposal especially with regards to cigarette ends and chewing gum.
The flooding earlier this year had a knock-on effect on the cleanliness of the streets, as
resource was moved from cleaning the streets to deal with the flooding - this had a threemonth effect on performance for litter and detritus. Performance is now back at preflooding levels and cleaning completed as per the agreed frequency schedule. With regard
to weeds, there are three sprays scheduled between April and September 2014. Improved
mechanical sweepers are being used, which will also reduce detritus. Deep cleans are being
done on shop fronts and there is a deep cleaning plan in place; this plan is flexibly based on
inspection results and feedback from the public.
Action
Results analysed and
discussed at May CG Board
Meeting.
Next year’s results to be
discussed at CG Board
meeting.
Look into how to promote
further options for assisted
collection
Revisit the decisions on
where to take the Cleaner
Greener campaigns for the
last 2 purges for 2014/15
using additional survey
evidence
Send CG members the talk
back survey ward profile
analysis
Deliverables/ Outcome
Give regard to survey
findings in terms of
ranking of areas and the
additional intelligence it
provides
Due Date
On-going
To ensure recycling
Graham
facilities/opportunities
Bourton
open to all.
Ensure we are going to
Richard Adams
the places residents would
most like to see
visited/believe need to be
visited by cleaner greener
campaign
August
2014
Ensure survey data is used Helen
to refine service standards Burkhalter
31st May
2014
(Completed)
Revise service standards if
appropriate
Always re-issue a service
standard leaflet before an
Owner
Helen
Burkhalter
Continue to manage
perception versus
Graham
Bourton/
Richard Adams
Chris Lee
July 2014
August
2014
Various
throughout
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area purge/cleaner greener
campaign
Repeat October 2013 analysis
of demand hot spot using city
works database
deliverability issue
Use a wide selection of
intelligence/evidence to
identify ‘hot spots’
including: demand
analysis (‘calls, request’),
recycling rates etc. Use
this as a management
tools to plan service
delivery
the year
SCENE group
December
2014
Sadie Paige
21/8/14
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