Satisfaction with Gateshead Council at only 21%
Only one in five residents are satisfied with a North East council, according to its own survey.
Only one in five residents are satisfied with a North East council, according to its own survey.
Just 21% of people are happy with how Gateshead Council runs its services, the local authority itself has revealed.
A council-run survey of more than 3,000 residents also found that only 18% feel the council provides value for money and responds to their concerns.
Labour council leader Martin Gannon admitted that the results had sent a “clear message” to Civic Centre officials that improvement was needed.
A report on the findings said that unhappy respondents had pinpointed complaints over poor road conditions, the closed Gateshead Highway Flyover, anti-social behaviour, and housing repairs.
It added that satisfaction with street cleaning is at 30% and road and pavement maintenance at 16% and 19% respectively, though happiness with bin collections remains higher at 70%.
Coun Gannon said: “There’s a clear message from this survey – we need to do better. And I’ve got a clear message for our residents – we hear you. We know Gateshead people, so these results didn’t contain any real surprises. The feedback confirms that we’re on the right track for making things better for you.
“That’s why we’re investing in people and equipment to help keep our streets clean, that’s why we’re filling more potholes than ever before, and that’s why we’re working closer than ever with our partners and local people to keep our communities safe.
“The unpalatable truth is that Gateshead Council’s ability to do its job effectively has been damaged by years and years of huge cuts and sadly that is reflected in satisfaction levels going down. Whilst that situation is now slowly improving, with some additional investment from central government, it will take time to undo the damage that those cuts inflicted on us.”
There were 3,195 responses to the survey, which ran between March and July this year.
Respondents named their top priorities for Gateshead as being levels of anti-social behaviour, street cleaning, and roads and pavements.
Just over half of residents said they were satisfied with their local area as a place to live, down from 64% in 2018, while 58% felt their area had become worse over the past year.
However, around two-thirds of people said they felt a strong sense of belonging in Gateshead.
Rubbish and litter was seen as a major problem for residents in the centre, east and south of Gateshead, while up to 79% of those in the centre of the town identified drug use as a problem.
Gateshead Lib Dem opposition leader Ron Beadle, who had recently called on the council to publish the results or the survey, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “Just one in five residents is satisfied with the council. This is an awful verdict on Labour’s leadership; Gateshead deserves better.”
The council said it had already made “significant investment” to crack down on issues like graffiti and fly-tipping, as well as filling more potholes, and that the borough had seen reductions in violent incidents, anti-social behaviour and vehicle crime.
Coun Gannon added: “Of course we can quote the statistics until the cows come home, but what I really want for Gateshead people is for them to feel safer, feel the streets are cleaner and feel that we are listening to them.
“I do believe that residents are starting to feel those improvements we’ve been making on those issues that matter to them. There’s much more to do but Gateshead people can be confident that your concerns are our concerns, and we’re determined to continue to make things better.”