Community spirit in West Sussex during pandemic ‘stronger than the rest of the UK’

JPIMedia, publisher of this newspaper, canvassed the opinions of thousands across the country and our county in a survey for The Big Conversation: a campaign to find out what people wanted their community to look like after the pandemic.

Last month, the results were revealed for West Sussex and nationwide.

When asked if the sense of community where they live has gotten stronger or weaker since the pandemic began, 44.2 per cent of respondents to the West Sussex survey said it was ‘stronger’ or ‘much stronger’ than before, versus 39.08 per cent nationally.

This was the majority of West Sussex responses; for the national survey the top answer was ‘neither stronger nor weaker’ at 43.66 per cent.

In a similarly retrospective look at life post-lockdown, we asked those who took the survey to rate essential services like schools and hospitals.

Almost across the board, West Sussex respondents had a more positive response than the national average.

Topping the charts overall were refuse collection and recycling, closely followed by the emergency services.

Local schools were more highly praised in the county compared to the rest of the UK, with 43.6 per cent of respondents saying they were ‘good or very good’ compared to 39.75 per cent.

The only exception was public transport and adaptation to transport infrastructure, which fared marginally lower than the national average.

This comes as the temporary cycle lanes in Chichester are set to be cancelled following a public backlash, which may foreshadow West Sussex County Council doing the same in other towns which had the scheme.

While these essential services continue, many other aspects of our lives have moved online.

When asked how they had adapted to doing more things online, 51.4 per cent of West Sussex respondents said they had adapted very well – versus 47.76 per cent nationally.

Accessing health care has also changed in this post-pandemic world.

In the West Sussex survey results, 45.4 per cent of people said they needed to make a hospital appointment or visit a specialist – more than the UK result of 42.38 per cent.

It also seems that while mental health has suffered in recent months, West Sussex has not been so badly affected; 20.7 per cent of respondents said theirs had been ‘strongly affected’, versus 22.76 per cent in the national survey.