People's Voice - Access to Information, Transport and Leisure and Sports Provision

The third People's Voice survey, which sought public views on access to information, was recently distributed during March 2005.

A total of 315 questionnaires were returned from panel members, giving a 60% response rate.

Access to Information

Nearly three quarters of respondents have noticed or received Connect, Wrexham County Borough Council’s newsletter.
Just under half of panel members had noticed or received the Council’s Directory of Services.
More older respondents tend to have noticed or received Connect than younger respondents. Also respondents aged 45-64 were more likely to have noticed or received the Council’s Directory of Services (54%).
94% of respondents felt the information in Connect was either very useful or fairly useful, while 97% of respondents felt the information in the Directory of Services was either very useful or fairly useful.
Nearly two in three (64%) panel members have access to the Internet for personal use. As would be expected, access to the Internet for personal use declines with age as 82% of 18-24 year olds have access compared with just 36% of those aged 65+.
Over half (56%) of respondents with Internet access have visited the Council website (www.wrexham.gov.uk).
The top three reasons why respondents [103 panel members] have used the Council’s website in the last 12 months were for a general enquiry (60%), a request for information (52%) and to make an application e.g. planning (6%).

Nearly half (47%) of the panel members drive to work in their car.
Three in five panel members (60%) drive their car to leisure activities.
To get to a hospital, the majority of panel members stated they drive their car (60%) whereas 13% were the passenger of a car, 10% get the bus and 5% walk.
Three in five (60%) panel members drive into Wrexham to go shopping whereas nearly one fifth (19%) use the bus and one in ten (10%) walk.
Nearly two in five (37%) respondents stated they are current public transport users while 62% are not.
More male respondents are current public transport users (39%) than females (36%).
Panel members that are not current public transport users were asked what prevents them from using it in the County Borough. The top three reasons were that the routes do not go where they want them to (46%), the journeys take too long (43%) and is not frequent enough (39%).
Panel members that do not currently use public transport were also asked what would encourage them to use it in the County Borough. The top three things that would encourage the use of public transport are more frequent services (41%), park and ride facilities (41%) and faster services (34%).

Nearly two in three (65%) respondents were satisfied with the information provided at the main leisure centre they use.
Over two in three (67%) respondents were satisfied with the activities provided at the main leisure centre they use.
Over two in five (63%) respondents were satisfied with the facilities provided at the main leisure centre they use.
Over two in five (61%) respondents were satisfied with the pricing at the main leisure centre they use.
Panel members that stated they have never used a leisure centre in the County Borough [82 panel members] were asked their reasons why. Nearly one in three (31%) panel members said it was due to their age as they are too old while 19% stated they were not interested and 18% cited participation in other leisure activities as the reason for not using County Borough leisure centres.
All panel members were asked to rate the sports provision in their local neighbourhood. Overall, two in five (40%) rate the sports provision as good, including 12% who rate it as very good. Nearly a quarter (23%) rate sports provision as poor while 10% rate it as neither good nor poor

For more information contact:
Assistant Policy Officer
Telephone: 01978 292176
Email: statistics@wrexham.gov.uk

Related links
	Have Your Say!

	People's Voice

	People's Voice - Panel Profile Information

	Contact Information

	Community & Living