PARISH COUNCIL
Parish Council meetings
Most people (70%) were aware they could attend meetings of the Parish Council. However, asked if the issues discussed at Parish Council reflected local concerns, the majority, 70% had no opinion. Only 24% said yes, and 6% said no. Very few had ever attended an annual meeting of the Council - only 9%, just 81 people.
However, 60% thought the council publicise its decisions and activities well and only 16% thought they do this badly. (The others had no opinion.)
Nearly half (48% ) would like more information about the activities of the Parish Council. But a third (32%) don’t want more information.
Parish Office
Just over half the respondents (53%) had visited the Parish Office in Denman’s Lane. Reasons for visiting were varied. Purchasing travel cards or green sacks, and seeking information were the most common reasons for a visit. A full breakdown is as follows:
|
Reason |
No |
% |
|
Purchase bus pass/rail card |
216 |
47 |
|
Seeking information |
208 |
45 |
|
Purchase green garden sacks |
154 |
33 |
|
Inspect Planning Application |
116 |
25 |
|
Report damage |
64 |
14 |
|
Read minutes |
22 |
5 |
|
Purchase grey commercial sacks |
3 |
1 |
|
Other |
35 |
8 |
“Other”: Additional comments included four concerning the restricted opening times - particularly difficult for people in employment, and one person who wrote “I did not know it was there!”.
Council responsiveness
In general, people think the parish council more responsive than the district, which in turn is more responsive than the county. (See figure 6 over page).
Figure 6
Council tax
How satisfied are people with the way council tax is spent? Almost half are satisfied, with just 4% dissatisfied. But over a third don’t know how it is spent. (See Figure 7 over page).
Altogether, 42% were willing to pay more to fund local services. (See Figure 7a). Some people had added comments to this question. Of these two were willing to pay more, four were against paying more (“We already pay enough”) and six were willing to pay more depending on how it was spent.
Figure 7
Figure 7a
Twinning
A fairly emphatic thumbs down to twinning, with 60% against it, just 15% in favour and 25% having no view.