Barnet Council has pledged to tackle areas of resident dissatisfaction “head on” following the results of their latest perception survey.

The Autumn 2016 Residents’ Perception Survey, surveying a sample of 500 Barnet residents, was published yesterday (Mar 16).

Comparisons between the new results and those of the Spring 2016 survey have shown areas of improvement and decline in residents’ perception of the council’s work.

It was revealed 85 per cent of residents are satisfied with living in Barnet, with 81 per cent agreeing people from different ethnic backgrounds get on well together.

Lack of affordable housing, the condition of the borough’s roads and pavements and crime remain the top three concerns for residents.

Leader of the council Cllr Richard Cornelius said: “I am very pleased the vast majority of our residents like living in Barnet and think the council is continuing to do a good job.

“The survey provides a crucial snapshot of how people feel about living in the borough and where we need to focus our efforts.

“We are tackling these head-on by building more affordable housing in the borough and by our continuing investment in our roads and pavements.

“The survey of young people provides a very important insight into how our 11 to 18 year olds feel about Barnet and the areas we need to continue to work on as we strive to be the most family friendly borough in London by 2020.”

A 10 per cent drop in the number of residents who consider the council trustworthy has led to concerns for Labour opposition councillors.

The figure fell from 71 per cent in Spring 2016 to 61 per cent in the latest survey.

Labour leader Cllr Barry Rawlings said: “I am not surprised there has been such a dramatic fall in trust.

“When we speak to residents on the doorstep we regularly hear how let down people feel by the Tories running Barnet Council.

“They must be embarrassed about this and I will be very interested to see how they spin this.

“The Tories are very complacent, so it is definitely time for a change.”

See below for the Barnet Borough Times’ breakdown of other key findings from the survey:

  • 71 per cent said they were satisfied with the way the council runs things
  • 51 per cent said the council was providing value for money
  • 66 per cent felt the council kept residents informed of what they are doing
  • 61 per cent felt the council is doing good work regenerating the area
  • 51 per cent approved of how the council is tackling financial challenges
  • 38 per cent were happy with the council’s efforts to get people into work
  • 40 per cent said the council was doing a better job than a year before
  • Lack of affordable housing, conditions of roads and pavements, crime and quality of health service were top sources of concern for residents
  • 78 per cent of residents say Barnet is a family-friendly place to live, down from 85 per cent in the Spring
  • 81 per cent agreed people from different backgrounds in Barnet get along well together
  • Litter is the key concern for residents when it comes to anti-social behaviours
  • 76 per cent rated the council’s refuse collection as “good to excellent”
  • 47 per cent rated parking services as “extremely poor to poor” and 25 per cent rated it “average”
  • 56 per cent rated library services as “excellent to good”, down 16 per cent on the year before

You can read the full breakdown of results published by the council here.