Positives and some criticism for council in MRBI survey

The county council in Westmeath has scored well – even topping the table under some headings – in the in-depth Local Authority Satisfaction Survey, released last week by the National Oversight and Audit Commission.

The survey, carried out by Ipsos MRBI, found that seven out of every 10 people believe Westmeath County Council is doing a good job, and that generally levels of satisfaction are at least average, and often well beyond that.

Expectations are clearly high, however, for while the document reveals that Westmeath scores best in the country on the question of whether it is doing a good job, with 71 per cent of survey participants giving it a thumbs up, it scores just 61 per cent in terms of overall levels of satisfaction.

A second table-topping performance came by Westmeath on the question of how well-informed people feel by their local council, with 69 per cent declaring themselves satisfied.

Westmeath was, in fact, well ahead of the field here, as the county with the next-highest rating in that category was Kerry, where 60 per cent of respondents felt they were kept well-informed.

Dublin City got the wooden spoon on this one with a satisfaction rate of just 11 per cent.

It emerged from the survey that word of mouth, followed by newspapers and then radio are the most common sources used to find out about the council.

Westmeath came in around mid-table nationally in the area of transparency and openness, scoring 40 per cent, as against a national average satisfaction rating of 36 per cent.

Nationally, 53 per cent believe their local council promotes economic activity. In Westmeath, 62 per cent believe that to be the case.

Road maintenance, road safety, affordable housing, community and environmental protection were listed by respondents as the most important services provided.

Westmeath polled the highest in terms of satisfaction with road safety and road maintenance at 88% and 84% respectively.

Job prospects/wage levels and affordable housing are identified as important factors for making somewhere a good place to live/work.

On the downside, of 10 local authorities surveyed this year, Westmeath was found to be the most bureaucratic and difficult to deal with – and, in fact, 49 per cent of respondents stated that. By contrast, just 13 per cent of Longford’s respondents and 21 per cent in Leitrim made this criticism of their councils.

Just 57 per cent of those who participated believed that the council was efficient and well run, but 77 per cent agreed the council was working to make the area cleaner and greener; 71 per cent agreed it was working to make the area safe, and 75 per cent agreed it made a positive contribution to the quality of life in the area.

Across the 10 council areas surveyed this year, the average percentage who believe their council provides good value for money was just 29 per cent, although within Westmeath, 31 per cent rated the council as providing good value for money.