	Consultation
	Torbay Council
	Town Hall Castle Circus Torquay TQ1 3DS
	consultation @torbay.gov.uk
	01803 208839

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ViewPoint Two

In June/July 1999, this second postal survey of panel members was undertaken. It obtained a pleasing response rate of 70%, which means that we can be confident that the results* accurately reflect the panel as a whole to within +/- 2%.

The second questionnaire was wide ranging and covered the following topics:

*Indexing has been used in the analysis of several questions in this survey. These questions has exclusively positive / negative answers, for example 'I agree / disagree or 'I am optimistic / pessimistic'. The Index Score is derived from the positive score minus the negative score, neutral scores (don't know etc.) are ignored. The greater the Index Score (Maximum 100) the more significant the result, either positive or negative. In turn, and Index Score of around zero indicates no clear consensus of opinion.

Crime and Community Safety

Results from the first ViewPoint survey revealed that crime and community safety was a priority issue that panel members would like to see included in the next ViewPoint questionnaire. Responses on this section were passed to the Torbay Crime and Disorder Partnership and will help shape the Torbay Community Safety Strategy (an action plan of proposals to tackle crime).

When considering the results of this section, it is important to place this information in context. It should be recognised that Torbay has less crimes committed per 1,000 residents (1997/1998 data) when compared to England & Wales as a whole (87.1), its largest urban neighbours, Plymouth (84.7) and Exeter (89.2) as well as some resort style authorities. This is not to say that Torbay is crime free.

The opinions expressed by the panel are real and indicate the level of concern for crime that may well exist in the area.

Six out of ten respondents (60%) expressed concern about leaving their house empty during the day. In the evening/night the overall level of concern rose to 75%.

Further exploration of 'concern for crime' issues within Torbay indicated concern about :

going out alone in their local neighbourhood during the day
going out alone during the evening / night

When respondents were asked to say what crime prevention strategies they had adopted as a result of concern about their property, the most popular measures were:

Window locks fitted on their home
External security lighting
Using a timer on interior lighting
Using a chain on the front door
Fitting an alarm box

Focusing on the precautions ViewPoint respondents said they had taken as a result of concern about vehicle safety, nearly four out of ten respondents (39%) said they had an alarm or immobiliser fitted on their vehicle. Around a third (32%) said they used a steering lock on their car.

With respect to community and personal safety, three out of ten (30%) of ViewPoint respondents said that they belong to a Neighbourhood Watch Scheme. Around two in ten (17%) said they had sought advice on personal and property security from the police and 17% said they had sought advice from other sources. Only nine percent of respondents said they carried a personal alarm, although just over a quarter of respondents (27%) said they avoided specific areas.

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Transport in Torbay

In response to the Government's White Paper on transport, Torbay Council is required to produce a five year Local Transport Plan setting out how it intends to impliment the Government's policies on a local level. The Council will use the answers to this section to prepare this plan.

Viewpoint respondents were asked to consider their relative level of agreement with a series of transport and traffic related statements. The analysis that is quoted excludes those respondents who did not feel able to give an answer:

Around nine out of ten respondents agreed that an increase in car ownership will cause increased traffic congestion on the roads in the future (91%).
When asked to consider the statement 'building new roads is not a solution for traffic congestion', one third of the panel disagreed and thought that building new roads was indeed the answer.
Nine in ten respondents agreed that new developments should be built on sites which can be reached by foot, bicycle & public transport as well as by car
87% of respondents agreed with the statement 'roads are for cyclists as well as cars'.

Those ViewPoint members who said that they were either employed (full or part time) or were a full time students were asked to say where their place of work or study was located. Seven out of ten respondents (70%) said they were either employed or studied in the local Torbay area.

It is perhaps not surprising to find that around half (49%) of this sub-panel said that their journey to work / study only took up to 15 minutes. A further three out of ten respondents (30%) stated that their journey took between 15 minutes and half and hour.

In attempt to establish how Torbay residents travel to their place of work/study, the same group of ViewPoint members were asked to say, which was their 'normal' mode of transport .

Predisposition towards travelling by car was high, seven out of ten respondents said they travelled to their place of work/study by car, either as a driver (63%) or passenger (7%). However, over one in ten respondents (15%) said they walked.

Of those respondents who said they travelled from their 'main' place of work during the day (perhaps as part of their job) again the majority chose to drive a car (64%). One in five (19%) said they chose to walk.

An exploration of the factors which motivate respondents towards car use revealed that top of the list of reasons was that car travel allowed respondents the freedom to travel when they wanted followed by shorter journey times.

Further exploration of the modes of transport all local residents chose to travel around Torbay revealed a strong predisposition towards the car for all journey types (including non-work related trips). It is interesting to note that 31% of respondents who were parents/guardians said they walked their children to and from school.

When ViewPoint members were presented with a list of local traffic and transport issues that council officers considered may be perceived as problem by local residents:

Over seven out of ten respondents felt that finding a parking space in the town centres of Torbay (73%) and the speed of motorists in residential areas (71%) were considerable problems .
There was a greater split in opinion regarding road safety in local areas
A broad majority of respondents (63%) felt that Traffic congestion was of considerable concern
A slight majority of respondents did not consider commuter parking or tourist parking to be a problem in their local neighbourhood

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Bus Services

The Council, in co-operation with local bus operators, wished to use the panel to help improve bus services in torbay.

Less than one in ten (6%) ViewPoint respondents said they used local bus services 'every day'. Around a fifth (18%) of respondents said they used local bus services weekly or fortnightly and 7% said they use local bus services around once a month. 37% of respondents said they 'never' use the bus.

Four in ten bus users (44%) said they normally purchased a standard single ticket and 38% said they normally bought a standard return ticket. Concessionary fares (9%) and season tickets (2%) had a relatively low penetration amongst bus users.

Only around a third (32%) of bus users considered that the bus ticket they normally purchased was good value for money. A slight majority of bus users said that the ticket that they normally bought was poor value for money, 29% said it was fairly poor value for money and 22% said their normal ticket very poor value for money.

Stagecoach has a clear monopoly on the bus user market within Torbay, with 91% of bus users stating this is the bus company they use most often. Duchy Travel achieved 3% whilst First Western National and Alansway achieved 2% of the respondents patronage figures respectively.

Bus users were presented with a list of service attributes and were asked to consider how well or badly they thought the bus company that they used most frequently was performing.

The results as they appear are cumulative for all providers and exclude those respondents who replied don't know. A majority of respondents viewed the following attributes positively:

Cleanliness of the exterior of the bus
Cleanliness of the interior of the bus
Punctuality/reliability of service
Quality / condition of vehicle
Quality of driving
Comfort of seats

Those attributes of the local bus services that were viewed as performing less well included:

Availability of leg room
Ease of boarding
Smoothness of ride
Availability of timetable information on board
Provision of luggage space

All ViewPoint members, regardless of whether they said they used local bus services or not were asked to consider a list of service attributes pertaining to bus services and bus infrastructure in their local area. The results once again exclude those respondents who did not feel able to give an answer or answered 'don't know'.

Firstly, looking at local bus stops, 84% of respondents agreed that their local bus stop was in reasonable walking distance of their home. Respondents were, however, fairly dissatisfied with the infrastructure:

Two-thirds thought that the weather protection / shelter at their local bus stop is inadequate
Only 17% of respondents agreed that the seating at their local bus stop is of a good standard
Around three-quarters (72%) of respondents said having lights in a bus shelter would make them feel safer

Focusing next on the provision and clarity of timetables, respondents were clearly divided in opinion as to whether it is difficult to obtain timetable information, with a third of respondents in agreement and another third (34%) disagreeing. Thirty-eight percent of respondents disagreed with the statement that 'timetable information is clear and easy to understand', however, only 28% agreed that they felt 'confused when they read the bus timetable'.

Looking now at service level provision, thirty-four percent of respondents agreed that there were enough early morning services in their local area. With regard to service provision in the evening, 36% of respondents agreed that the service level was satisfactory, whereas 41% disagreed. Finally looking at Sunday services, 45% of respondents disagreed that the service level provision in their local level was satisfactory.

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Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust

Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust used this section to assess the panels views on areas within Torbay that they will possibly manage, and their plans for fund raising.

When ViewPoint members were presented with a list of local coast and countryside areas in Torbay and asked to say how frequently they visited these areas, the survey results showed that respondents were more likely to visit:

Cockington Country Park, Torquay
Goodrington Beach, Paignton
Berry Head, Brixham

Sharkham Point and Occombe Woods were identified as the least popular coast and countryside areas.

The main motivational factors for visiting local coast and countryside areas appeared to be:

To appreciate the countryside
Par-take in walking or hiking (with or without a dog)
To look at nature
Peace and quiet
Special events/attractions
Family outings

When exploring respondents' rationale for not having visited coast and countryside sites, the most cited reasons by respondents included:

Lack of time due to other priorities
General sense of apathy – I'm not interested
Lack of awareness of specific sites

It should be noted that several respondents found it difficult to complete this question, thus explaining in part why perhaps a higher than expected proportion of respondents answered 'don't know'.

When ViewPoint members were asked to state which special events laid on by the Trust they were aware of:

Over half (57%) said that they had heard of Apple day at Cockington Court
Just under half (49%) of respondents said they were aware of the guided walks provided by the trust
49% of respondents confirmed they had heard of the Open Air Theatre at Cockington
42% said they were aware of Christmas Festivities at Cockington Court

Just over a fifth of respondents (23%) said that they were either unaware of any of the special events or chose not give a response.

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Local Agenda 21

This section looked at the way we live and the possible changes we could make to minimise out impact on the environment. This process of involving everybody in the decision making process is what Local Agenda 21 is all about.

When ViewPoint members were presented with a list of 'green' actions and were asked to say which, if any, they had done in the previous 12 months, a majority (82%) of respondents said they had used a re-cycling site and 77% said they had re-cycled unwanted items to charity. Six out of ten respondents (60%) said they purchased products that could be refilled. Only 3% of respondents said they had not followed any of environmentally friendly practices listed in the previous 12 months.

The survey results showed that those respondents who said they re-cycled their goods using a bottle, can, paper or clothes bank do so on a frequent basis (perhaps according to need). Nearly five in ten (48%) said they visit a re-cycling site at least once a week and over a fifth (23%) said they re-cycle goods at least fortnightly. Nearly a fifth (19%) said they re-cycle goods at least once a month.

ViewPoint members were asked to say, using a pre-coded list which other 'green activities' they would be prepared to do in order to reduce their environmental impact. It should however be borne in mind that the responses to this section indicated that many respondents considered that they were already undertaking these tasks to an optimum limit:

With regard to re-cycling, having already established that 82% of respondents had re-cycled goods using a bottle, can, paper or clothes bank in the previous 12 months, it is positive to note that over half (55%) of the respondents said they would be prepared to re-cycle more.
Around a half (52%) of respondents said they would be willing to buy local farm produce
Three out of ten respondents said they would be willing to use the car for less journeys
Nearly four in ten respondents said they would be prepared to walk to more places
A quarter of respondents said they would be prepared to use the bus for more journeys
Finally looking at water consumption, around three in ten respondents said they would be willing to use less water to conserve supplies

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Local Democracy

The Council's Elections and Electoral Registration section used ViewPoint to conduct research into public's voting patterns in Council, General and European Elections. The responses to this section contributed to the national debate of what could encourage people to vote.

When ViewPoint respondents were asked to say which description best matched their voting habits during full Local Council Elections. Around six in ten (59%) said I always vote, this response is broadly in line with the recorded voter turnout figure of 69% in the last full Local Council Elections. One in five (21%) said I usually vote, 7% said I occasionally vote and 4% said I never vote.

Focussing General Elections:

72% of respondents said I always vote (Again this figure is in line with the recorded voter turnout figures for the 1997 General Election)
13% of respondents said I usually vote
4% said I occasionally vote
3% said I never vote

Looking finally at European Elections, 49% of respondents said I always vote. This result is significantly higher than the recorded voter turnout figure of 29% in the 1999 European Elections. Fifteen percent of respondents said I usually vote, 12% said I occasionally vote and 14% said I never vote.

ViewPoint members who said that they either occasionally vote or never vote in any election type were asked to explain 'why?' the key factors that emerged included:

A lack of information from the political parties about candidates
No political parties that stand for the policies I would like to see
My vote does not make a difference
A considerable degree of apathy was also noted

ViewPoint respondents were presented with a list of possible options and asked to indicate how much encouragement each would give them to them to vote. It should be noted that many respondents felt unable to comment on this section of the questionnaire and replied 'don't know'.

Looking firstly at the concept of relocating polling stations:

Over four out of ten respondents said that having polling stations in supermarkets (46%) and having polling stations in shopping centres (43%) would help act as an encouragement for them to vote
Respondents stated that moving polling stations to major employers within the voting area would not have a significant impact on voter turnout

Focussing now on the concept of changing electoral procedures, around four out of ten (42%) respondents said that 'having a 100% postal vote' would encourage them to vote. This was followed by 'voting by telephone' (30%), 'voting at an electronic kiosk' (28%) and 'voting electronically using the Internet' (20%).

Finally looking at the concept of changing when elections take place, the survey results indicate that changing the polling day to another weekday would not encourage more local residents to vote, with 62% of respondents stating that this would not make a difference. Voting at the weekend (29%) and voting over a longer period of time (30%) achieved significantly more support.

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