Shropshire has some of the best transport and highway services in country – according to survey

A national survey has revealed that Shropshire residents are among the most satisfied in England with their local transport and highway services.

The National Highways and Transport Survey undertaken by Ipos Mori was completed by selected residents of 70 council areas across England, and a sample of 849 Shropshire residents from across the county responded.

Results from the survey will be used by Shropshire Council to better understand what people want and to tailor service improvements. The survey enables Shropshire to be compared to other similar councils, as well as comparing residents’ satisfaction with the last time the survey was undertaken in 2009.

The survey revealed that 58% of Shropshire residents are satisfied with their highways and transport services. This compares well with other councils in England, with Shropshire having the 12th highest level of satisfaction.

Some of the aspects where satisfaction is high compared to other councils in England include condition of roads and pavements, efforts to reduce traffic delay and manage roadworks, speed control, and provision of Park and Ride schemes.

The lowest level of satisfaction was with the provision of public transport information (40% satisfied).  There are already plans for significant improvements to the availability of bus information in the county, and as a first stage Shropshire Council has recently launched its new online bus timetable service at http://shropshire.gov.uk/bustimes/

Services that respondents considered to be most important, and priorities for future investment, were the condition of roads, provision of pavements and footways, local bus services and road safety.

The satisfaction of Shropshire residents with most aspects of highways and transport has improved slightly since the last survey in 2009, however satisfaction with accessibility and public transport services has fallen slightly.

Councillor Simon Jones, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for transport, said:

“We are pleased to see that public satisfaction with most areas of our service is improving, but we do of course recognise that people would like us to do even more to improve.

“In a large, sparse county such as Shropshire, it’s a big challenge to keep the condition of roads and bus services as high as people would like, especially in the current economic climate.  However, I would like assure the public that we will continue to review the way we deliver our highways and transport services to make the best possible use of the funding we have.”

The full results are available here.