Devon ranked top in highways survey

Devon County Council has for the first time been ranked the country’s top performing local authorities for highways and transport services, according to a national survey.

Devon was among 70 highway authorities, including 25 county councils, which took part in the 2013 National Highways and Transport Public Satisfaction Survey (NHT Survey).

It is the sixth year of the random postal survey, conducted by Ipsos MORI, which is the most comprehensive public satisfaction survey for highways and transport. The survey questions are based on highway maintenance, road safety, public transport, tackling congestion, walking and cycling, and accessibility.

Devon was the best performing county council overall, with a satisfaction score of more than 57% from people in the county who responded to the survey. Devon came out top for cycle routes and facilities and was second for condition of highways; footways; management of roadworks; road safety education and satisfaction with Rights of Way.

Some of the biggest improvements in satisfaction were with frequency of bus services, provision of public transport information, the availability of community transport, and winter gritting services.

However, the NHT Survey highlighted reduced satisfaction with the condition of road surfaces and dealing with potholes and damaged roads, which had fallen by around 5% - slightly more than the national average of 4.5%. However, Devon is still the second best performing county council and in the top 13 of all local authorities for condition of its highway network.

Councillor Stuart Hughes, Devon County Council Cabinet Member for Highway Maintenance and Flood Prevention, said: “These are tough financial times and I’m pleased that the hard work of our staff has been recognised with Devon rated as the best performing county council overall in the survey. It’s encouraging that confidence in our local bus services, public transport information and winter gritting are among the services which have received improved satisfaction levels.

“Despite the challenges we are facing with reductions in funding from central Government, the county council is doing well across the range of services and satisfaction levels remain consistently high. The results of this survey are always valuable to help us understand what is important to local people and we will be using the results to focus where we can improve.”

The results of the survey are available online at www.nhtsurvey.org