Croydon Strategic Partnership - Have your say results
What was it?
Croydon Strategic Partnership is a partnership of local public, private and community sector organisations that work together to deliver improvements for the borough.
The Partnership had identified a number of priorities for making life in Croydon better. This online survey asked respondents to comment on the list priorities and suggest additional ones. This would give the Strategic Partnership a clear idea if these priorities reflected the views of local people.
The survey was available through the Council's website between 23 January and 5 March 2008. The survey was featured in a Croydon Guardian Wrap on 23 January, in the February edition of Your Croydon, posters were displayed across the borough, the survey was advertised on Talk2Croydon; and all Neighbourhood Partnership contacts were sent an email with a link to the survey.
In addition to the survey the Partnership also undertook consultation through neighbourhood partnership meetings, Croydon Community Network and various themed partnership groups including Healthy Croydon, and Safer Croydon.
Who took part?
There were a total of 131 responses to the survey. Based on the responses to questions about themselves it was clear that respondents were not representative of the population at large and were not evenly distributed geographically.
What did they say?
All of the priorities were said to be important by the majority of respondents although there was variation in the level of importance. Tackling crime and anti-social behaviour, especially in relation to young people received the highest scores for importance.
A wide range of alternative priorities were suggested under each of the themes but there was no clear consensus on any individual priority. In the main additional comments related to existing service provision or specific actions rather than priorities for the borough.
Comments included:
"Improve visibility of police to the public, not just at times when school children are queuing for buses. Police should be seen patrolling, on foot or on bicycles, which will enable them to build a relationship with the local population."
"Taking an active stance to prevent anti-social behaviour on Buses, Trains and Tubes"
"Finding effective ways of coaxing people into not littering the streets - particularly in their own street"
A number of the comments also criticised the language used in the survey. Some of the terms reflected Government use and needed further explanation which was provided early in the survey period.
Summary
There was a clear vindication for the priorities identified by Croydon Strategic Partnership and this exercise demonstrates that the main issues of concern for local residents have been captured. However it is also clear that residents are interested in the specific actions that will meet these priorities and would welcome the opportunity to comment further on action plans.
What Happens Next?
Croydon Strategic Partnership used the findings from this consultation to negotiate a three year agreement with Government called the Local Area Agreement. Under each of the priorities identified by this consultation targets for improvement have been set and the Partnership will be monitored on its performance. After three years a reward grant will be paid to the Partnership based on the number of targets met.
Relevant local agencies and partnerships are currently developing action plans to met these targets and in many cases will be consulting with service users and local residents to decide how best to improve services.
You can read about the targets set in the Local Area Agreement in the document at the bottom of this page.
If you would like to comment on the Local Area Agreement or are interesting in being further involved then you can take part in the 'Have your say on local priorities' buzz on the Talk2Croydon website. The link is on the right-hand side of this page.
Contact Details
- Contact name
- Croydon Strategic Partnership
- croydonpartnership@croydon.gov.uk
