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The Best Value Performance Indicator (BVPI) surveys are undertaken every three years by all councils in England, and the 2006 survey asked several questions on the perceptions of the local area. This allows comparison across the country.
Satisfaction with the local area in each local authority area of Lancashire is shown in Figure 1. The score for Lancashire is from Lancashire County Council's survey (covering the NUTS-3 area of 12 districts, not including Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool unitary authorities). The England score is the mean of 387 English local authorities, including all county, district, metropolitan and unitary councils, and all London Boroughs.
Figure 1 Overall, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with your local area as a place to live? Source Audit Commission, BVPI Survey 2006 (fieldwork September to November 2006) View from Pendle HillThere are great variations in perceptions of the local area across Lancashire. Fylde and Ribble Valley districts are both in the top quartile of all council areas in England, while Blackpool, Rossendale, Blackburn with Darwen, Burnley, Hyndburn and Pendle are all in the lowest 25%.
With only half of residents satisfied with their local area, Pendle (51%) has the third lowest score of all 387 local authority areas. Only the London Boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, and Newham score lower (both 47% satisfied).
On the same survey, the public of each area were also asked their top priorities for improvement in the local area. These are outlined in Table 1 (again the Lancashire figure is for the Lancashire County Council area). Improving activities for teenagers and the level of crime are important in all areas. Road repairs and traffic congestion are important areas to improve in several areas, while the highest priority in Burnley is for clean streets (52%). Ribble Valley residents rate affordable decent housing (42%) far more importantly than any other Lancashire area, twice as highly as for the county overall. This reflects that the district has the highest house prices in the county .
The BVPI survey also asked the public of each area on the amount of litter and refuse. There are wide variations in the perceived cleanliness by district, and this is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2 Authority X has a duty to keep clear of litter and refuse all open public land, which it controls. How satisfied or dissatisfied are you that authority X has kept this land clear of litter and refuse? Source Audit Commission, BVPI Survey 2006 (fieldwork September to November 2006)Again Ribble Valley and Fylde are in the top quartile of all councils. The lowest 25% of all councils are below 62%, meaning nine local authorities in the Lancashire NUTS-2 region rank among the lowest.
Burnley, with only 45% satisfied, is rated the lowest of all 353 local authorities measured (all district, metropolitan and unitary councils, and London Boroughs - county councils do not have responsibility for this and so did not ask the question on their surveys). This is reflected by the highest priority in the district being clean streets . Pendle, at 53% satisfied with cleanliness, is the joint seventh lowest area.
The complete general survey results for all councils can be found on the (External) Audit Commission website .
The BVPI general survey 2006 is a postal questionnaire sent randomly to households in every local authority area in England. It is a requirement of the (External) Department for Communities and Local Government , and used to measure council performance. Each council was required to have at least 1,100 completed surveys, and the responses are weighted to reflect the population by age, gender and ethnicity. This means the accuracy on each statistic is approximately ±3%.
This page was compiled by Steven Knuckey .
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