Council back to high rankings in highways survey

by Adrian Tatum

Peterborough City Council has been ranked top out of all the highway and transport authorities in the eastern region.

The authority once again scored highly in this year’s National Highways and Transport (NHT) survey, which asked residents across the country for their views on highway and transport services.

The NHT conducts the survey each year to determine public satisfaction on service delivered by local authorities.

Peterborough was ranked as the best highways authority in the east.

Nationally, the council was ranked as the 12th best highway authority out of the 111 included – improving its ranking by 27 places and scoring an above average satisfaction rating.

The following results were received for the Peterborough area:

In total there were 779 responses from 4,300 surveys sent to residents, which is an 18% response rate.
At national level Peterborough City Council was given a 53% satisfaction score, the average is 47%. Last year, the council was given a 50% score.
Overall Peterborough City Council ranked no. 12 out of 111 highway authorities. Last year the council was ranked at no. 39 out of 111 highway authorities.
In the Eastern region Peterborough was ranked as the top highway authority.
Eighteen out of 27 of the Key Benchmark Indicators (KBIs) were either the same or above last year’s percentage of satisfaction results.
Results are presented over seven themes (accessibility, public transport, walking and cycling, highway maintenance, tackling congestion, road safety and communication) and saw Peterborough City Council receive an overall satisfaction score of above average for each theme.
The indicators with the highest satisfaction score were:
- Provision of bus stops (85%)
- Ease of access to local shops/supermarkets (79%)
- Provision of Pavements, footpaths and pedestrian areas (78%).
The indicator with the largest improvement in satisfaction score from last year is highway maintenance. Its score increased by 7%, from 42% to 49%.
The indicators with the highest satisfaction score above average were Condition of highways and Condition of road surfaces. These were above the average by 10%.
The indicator with the highest rank is Provision of cycle lanes. It came at no. 3 out of 111 highway authorities. In total Peterborough had 13 indicators that were in the top ten.

Councillor Marco Cereste, cabinet member for Climate Change, Planning Housing and Transport, said: “It is great to see that we have been rated so highly in the national highways and transport authority survey. To place number one in the eastern region and very highly nationally is a testament to our teams that work hard to ensure our roads and transport systems are at the highest standard that we can provide.

“The reason we rate the NHT survey so highly as it comes from the voice of residents in and around Peterborough. It helps us understand and work towards delivering efficient services that people notice and value.”