Council services better than we think

ROTHER services are better than most people think, according to research. This comes at a time when the district council is aiming to improve communication in the community.

Marina Pirotta Communications studied Rother alongside 13 other local authorities.

Each council involved was identified as good at communicating with their communities or, like Rother, seen as facing challenges in the area of communications by a MORI residents' satisfaction survey.

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The results were presented to the policy, performance and audit scrutiny committee last Tuesday.

Perceptions of services, and even knowledge of existing services, are low in Rother.

MPC found the level of satisfaction rose with the level of information given.

An impressive 65 per cent of residents taking part in the poll said they were satisfied with the quality of services provided by Rother.

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But 53 per cent said they had limited or no information on services available from the council. The new style cabinet should free up councillors to spend more time with constituents, dealing with their needs and problems.

This could redress the balance in distribution of information on council matters, the committee heard.

Currently 65 per cent of the sample community in the poll said they learned most of their information about the council through the local newspaper.

But 54 per cent of residents would prefer to learn of council matters by leaflets through the door.

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The problem to be tackled if this is put into action is that Rother publications were thought of as boring.

The report commended the council for its website and the response it had provoked.

But the research concluded customer services need to be improved.

The council is aiming to improve on these findings in line with the annual performance plan and the corporate aim and objective to lead and engage the community.

Information on Rother District Council can be found at www.rother.gov.uk