CAISTOR DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIP

First Opinion Survey - February 2001

Report considered by the partnership 16-3-2001

Acknowledgements:

Thanks are due to the residents of Caistor for all their responses to the survey.

Thanks are due to Alldays, Spar and the Post Office, for allowing the collecting boxes for responses to be located in their premises.

The Survey

A copy of the questionnaire reproduced below was sent to all households in Caistor, approximately 1100 in number. Additional copies (approximately 130 in number) were made available in public places in the town.

What is Your Opinion?

In the following list, which one is the single most important thing for Caistor ?

Please put an X in the box by your choice, under "Most important"

If you wish, put another X under "second " and another under "third.

If there is something you would like to add to this list, please use the last line to write your opinion.

 

 

Most important
Second most important
Third most important

1

Reduce crime and vandalism

 

 

 

2

Bring shops and businesses back to the town

 

 

 

3

Bring more visitors, tourists and shoppers into the town

 

 

 

4

Improve the appearance of the town centre

 

 

 

5

Improve public transport to nearby towns and villages

 

 

 

6

Improve social and leisure facilities for young people

 

 

 

7

Improve social and leisure facilities for over-sixties

 

 

 

8

More jobs in the town

 

 

 

9

In my opinion Caistor needs ...

 

 

 

 

 

Response

The number of completed survey forms returned was 216. In relation to 1100 households this represents a response rate of approximately 20 %.

Of the 216 responses, 166 were completed correctly as requested on the form, and 50 responses were not. Thus 77 % of responses were as requested, and 23 % not. The main reason for a response being not as requested is where multiple answers were given to the question "what is your choice for the single most important thing for Caistor", i.e. more than one X in a column.

In the tabulations of the responses which follow, only the 166 responses which were as requested have been taken into account. Nevertheless, all 216 responses have been taken into account in reporting on the opinions written by respondents for item 9 of the questionnaire.

Total Votes

The total number of votes for each candidate item on the questionnaire is shown in Table 1 .

Table 1: Total Votes

candidate item most
important
second
most
third
most

Reduce crime and vandalism

41

21

27

Bring shops and businesses back to the town

79

36

21

Bring more visitors, tourists and shoppers into the town

4

13

19

Improve the appearance of the town centre

24

54

30

Improve public transport to nearby towns and villages

4

13

12

Improve social and leisure facilities for young people

8

8

23

Improve social and leisure facilities for over-sixties

0

3

7

More jobs in the town

1

13

14

Other

5

1

2

Totals

166

162

155

For example, the first line shows that, of the 166 responses which were as requested, 41 of them chose "reduce crime and vandalism" as most important and 21 responses chose "reduce crime and vandalism" as second most important. The last line shows that every respondent made a choice for "most important" , but not all made a second or third choice.

Percentages

The number of votes for each candidate item is shown in Table 2 below as a percentage of the number of responses (which is 166).

Table 2 : Percentages

candidate item
most
important
second most important
third
most important
Reduce crime and vandalism
24.7%
12.7%
16.3%

Bring shops and businesses back to the town

47.6%

21.7%

12.7%

Bring more visitors, tourists and shoppers into the town

2.4%

7.8%

11.4%

Improve the appearance of the town centre
14.5%
32.5%
18.1%

Improve public transport to nearby towns and villages

2.4%

7.8%

7.2%

Improve social and leisure facilities for young people

4.8%

4.8%

13.9%

Improve social and leisure facilities for over-sixties

0.0%

1.8%

4.2%

More jobs in the town

0.6%

7.8%

8.4%

Other

3.0%

0.6%

1.2%

Totals

100.0%

97.6%

93.4%

For example, the first line shows that 24.7 % of voters chose "reduce crime and vandalism" as most important and 12.7 % of voters chose "reduce crime and vandalism" as second most important.

Overall Preferences

To rank the candidates into a single overall order of preference, the scheme is to give 3 points to a candidate where a respondent has chosen that candidate as "most important", 2 points for a choice under "second most" and 1 point for "third". The total points awarded to each candidate are shown in Table 3.

Table 3 : Preferences

candidate item
total points

Bring shops and businesses back to the town

330

Improve the appearance of the town centre

210

Reduce crime and vandalism

192

Improve social and leisure facilities for young people..

63

Bring more visitors, tourists and shoppers into the town

57

Improve public transport to nearby towns and villages

50

More jobs in the town

43

Other

19

Improve social and leisure facilities for over-sixties

13


For example the first line shows 330 points for "bring back shops and businesses". From Table 1 the votes for this item are 79, 36 and 21, giving a score of (3 x 79)+(2 x 36)+(1 x 21) = 330.

CONCLUSIONS

The partnership concludes that it needs to concentrate on :

1. Encouraging the economic development of the town

2. Improving the appearance of the town

3. Reducing crime and vandalism

N.B. ALL THE WRITTEN OPINIONS RECEIVED IN ANSWER TO QUESTION 9 HAVE BEEN PASSED ON TO THE APPROPRIATE AUTHORITY FOR CONSIDERATION EG: POLICE, TOWN COUNCIL, DISTRICT COUNCIL, COUNTY COUNCIL, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT etc.