Council's Highways and Transport services ranked country's best - here's why...
Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council's Highways and Transport services have been ranked the country's best in a national survey.
The National Highways & Transport Network survey was conducted by independent market research specialist, Ipsos MORI, in 112 local authority areas.
Residents were asked for their views on road safety, public transport, walking and cycling provision, efforts to tackle congestion, accessibility, and highway maintenance.
And the survey, sent to a random sample of more than 3,300 households, found overall satisfaction with the Council's Highways and Transport services to be the highest in the country.
The survey also rated the Council:
- #1 for road safety
- #1 for street lighting provision
- #1 for community transport fares
- #1 for provision of safe crossing points
The Council also ranked among the nation's best in other areas, including efforts to reduce traffic congestion, roadwork management, highways maintenance and road surface conditions.
Councillor Mike Smith, the Council's Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, said: "The results of this national survey are testament to the incredible amount of hard work put in by the Council's Highways and Transport services 24/7 at a time when resources are so stretched.
"It's particularly pleasing to see such high levels of public satisfaction with our street lighting and it's no coincidence that this has come at the end of our programme to replace street lighting across the Borough.
"We always said this investment would enable us to provide better street lighting for our residents while enabling us to save money on energy and maintenance costs and these results show we made the right decision.
"It's great that our residents feel they are receiving such a first-class, value for money service in this respect, and even more encouraging that it follows our shortlisting for local government's three most prestigious 'Council of the Year' awards in 2017.
"That said, we are far from complacent - we know we don't get everything right and will be using the views expressed in the survey to help us plan how we deliver these services in the future."