Highways satisfaction survey
Since 2015, Lancashire County Council has taken part in the annual National Highways and Transport Network (NHT) survey which collects the public's views on different aspects of highway and transport assets / services in local authority areas.
This takes the form of a targeted letter drop survey and an online highway maintenance themed survey to obtain a broader view of opinion. Whilst percentage scores from the paper survey were overwhelmingly more positive than those received from the online survey, the 'pattern' of results is surprisingly similar. From a satisfaction standpoint, the 6 top scoring indicators were the same in both online and paper surveys, as were the bottom 4, albeit in a slightly different order.
Condition of road surfaces, quality of repair to damaged roads and speed of repair to damaged roads continues to be of highest importance to a large percentage of the residents of Lancashire County and is also what is considered to have deteriorated the most.
| Indicator | Paper | Online |
|---|---|---|
| Provision of street lighting | 57% | 49% |
| Undertakes cold weather gritting (salting) | 57% | 46% |
| Condition of road signs | 54% | 43% |
| Speed of repair to street lights | 53% | 50% |
| Undertakes snow clearance | 52% | 43% |
| Cleanliness of road signs | 52% | 39% |
| Cleanliness of roads | 48% | 36% |
| Deals with mud on the road | 46% | 36% |
| Provision of drains | 45% | 33% |
| Condition of road markings | 45% | 27% |
| Weed killing on roads | 43% | 39% |
| Provides information on gritting | 41% | 36% |
| Maintenance of verges/trees/shrub | 41% | 34% |
| Keeping drains clear and working | 41% | 25% |
| Deals with flooding on roads | 40% | 27% |
| Quality of repair to damaged pavements | 39% | 31% |
| Cuts back overgrown hedges | 38% | 34% |
| Speed of repair to damaged pavements | 35% | 28% |
| Quality of repair to damaged roads | 27% | 11% |
| Deals with potholes/damaged roads | 26% | 10% |
| Condition of road surfaces | 26% | 8% |
| Speed of repair to damaged roads | 24% | 10% |
You said, we did
As a result of the feedback received, the county council works hard to provide enhancements and improvements to our processes e.g. the way we fix potholes, and strives to introduce improvements to the way we communicate with our residents around planned carriageway and footway repairs to address some of the concerns raised. This includes designated webpages explaining various aspects of our approach to carriageway and footway maintenance.
We have also introduced a 'You said, we did' initiative to provide updates on what action we're taking to tackle some of the issues highlighted by the feedback.
| You said… | What we've done / are doing… | Desired result |
|---|---|---|
| Improve communications (to impacted homeowners) both prior to, and during, scheduled works | Increasing use of metal road signs, providing intended works information, as opposed to the current streetlight signs | Improving visibility for those travelling around our county |
| Embracing the use of new technology e.g. QR codes | Improving direct access to information already online | |
| Improving the provision / consistency of letters and / or postcards which are provided to impacted homeowners | Improving communication to those residents directly affected by our work | |
| Create new letters / postcards which will provide additional information on works where time will elapse between treatments e.g. we'll be back | Improving communication to those residents directly affected by our work | |
| You said… | What we've done / are doing… | Desired result |
| Provide additional information to local councils to improve visibility of upcoming works | Implement a comms channel with local / parish councils to confirm upcoming works | Improving the stream of information provided to customer facing personnel to help reduce the number of queries received. And to facilitate self-service. |
| You said… | What we've done / are doing… | Desired result |
| Why one road is resurfaced (fixed) versus another? | Development / provision of an online scheme dashboard | Improving the visibility of scheduled works and what work is being done |
| Development of information videos to ensure new technological information is accessible to all | Improving information and background as to why we do, what we do | |
| You said… | What we've done / are doing… | Desired result |
| Poor communications in relation to highways maintenance, and also in relation to our aim to reduce our carbon footprint | Creating bite-sized campaigns to highlight the process of prioritisation of highway maintenance, and embracing new low carbon / recycling schemes e.g. biobinders | Challenge negative perceptions by improving communications to residents on the work being done to improve our highways and to reduce our carbon footprint |