Council secures top survey place
West Lothian Council has been named number one in a national customer satisfaction survey for its street lighting.
It is also the best in the country for road safety and the safety of children going to school.
But the council’s cutback on road and verge maintenance has also earned it “could do better” comments.
The National Highways and Transport Customer Satisfaction Survey for last year collected public perspectives on the importance of, and satisfaction with roads and transportation services in local authorities across the country.
The survey deals with a wide range of themes including: accessibility, public transport, walking and cycling, congestion, road safety, and roads maintenance.
In total, 111 authorities across the United Kingdom took part in this survey with West Lothian coming out on top in a number of areas. The council has taken part in the survey since 2016.
A council spokesman said the results were very positive for the local authority.
They said: “Based on the results of this survey, for overall customer satisfaction, West Lothian Council performs significantly above the national average.”
For 2019, West Lothian was ranked number one in the UK for indicators relating to “Provision of street lights”, “Road safety environment” and ‘ Safety of children walking/cycling to school”.
The most improved indicators for customers were: “Aspects of Communication” (which increased 11 per cent to 52 per cent), “Local bus services” (which increased 10 per cent to 62 per cent) and “Informed about public transport” (which increased six per cent to 58 per cent).
Areas where it fell below national levels were in maintenance of verges during the summer and winter gritting.
The three lowest ranked indicators are: ” Maintenance of highway verges/ trees/ shrub”, “Cuts back overgrown hedges” and “Undertakes cold weather gritting”.
Executive councillor for the environment, Tom Conn, welcomed the results of the survey.
He said: “West Lothian Council has achieved an excellent result in this year’s survey with overall satisfaction of respondents five per cent above the national average and we must thank all those who completed the survey.
“There have been marked improvements in a number of areas and the services involved can be pleased with their work over the past year. The fact that West Lothian has been ranked number one for numerous indicators represents a significant achievement when you think about the number of local authorities from across the UK who took part in this year’s survey.”
Councillor Conn said the council will now look at improving areas highlighted. He added: “Analysis will be carried out on those areas that were highlighted for improvement but I am confident that the services responsible for West Lothian’s roads and transport will continue to deliver for the public.”
West Lothian Council has achieved an excellent result