Public satisfaction with road condition improves

The results of a survey that collects public perspectives on highways and transportation services in local authority areas show a slight increase in satisfaction.

The seventh annual National Highways & Transport Public Satisfaction survey released last week show the public’s satisfaction with road condition is improving, up by more than 3% on average.

However, coming from a very low point last year, it still leaves only 34% of the public satisfied with the condition of their roads locally. Satisfaction levels with the speed of repair and the quality of repair of damaged roads and pavements both show increases of around 4% and there was a 7% reduction in the number of people who thought there are more potholes than last year.

For the first time in the survey’s seven year history awards were presented to top performing authorities. Robert Goodwill MP (pictured), Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport made the presentations when he gave the keynote speech at the NHT Conference in Westminster last week.

The authorities nominated were Nottingham City Council, London Borough of Southwark, Blackpool Borough Council and Medway Council. Special mention was also made of Sheffield City Council and Clackmannanshire Council.

Levels of participation in this year’s survey remained high, in spite of the challenging economic climate and the pressures on budgets with 78 authorities in England and Scotland taking part. The average response rate for this year’s survey was 23.2%; the second highest in the survey’s history. Nearly 70,000 members of the public responded to the NHT’s 12 page questionnaire on highway and transport issues this year, making it the most comprehensive survey of public views in this sector.

See HMEP’s response to the survey’s findings here.