9 December 2008

FLOODS MISERY TAKES DRAINAGE UP PUBLIC AGENDA

Last year's flooding has pushed road drainage up the transport agenda for many Britons suggests a new survey published this week by CSS.

The misery has prompted a huge increase - from 24 per cent to 40 per cent - in the proportion of people who want the Government to spend more on drainage. The finding comes from an annual survey of public perceptions of transport issues undertaken by Ipsos MORI and commissioned by CSS,  which represents local authority directors responsible for transport and travel.

The survey asked people where they believed Government increased spending priorities should lie in terms of roads and associated infrastructure. The highlights were:

• Drainage - up 16 percentage points to 40 per cent.
• Roads and carriageways – up eight points to 49 per cent.
• Cycle lanes and tracks – up three points to 28 per cent.

Junction layout (identified by 31 per cent, up 10 points) and width of carriageway (18 per cent, up seven points), recorded the largest year-on-year increases in the proportion of people identifying them as important aspects of road carriageway condition.

Commenting on the survey, Mike Jackson, chair of the CSS Finance Committee, said: “After the summer floods of 2007, drainage is something which is still very much in people’s minds and there has been some heavy rain even in the past few weeks. Flooding is a very stressful natural phenomenon, which can have far-reaching effects on people’s lives. Although many people are taking individual actions to minimise the risk of further flooding to their homes, they naturally want the Government to do all it can - and making roads drain better is one obvious way of relieving the overall problems.”

A new CSS report earlier this year - Travel Is Good - looking ahead to life in 2030, pointed to the need for greater investment in making the transport infrastructure more resilient to the effects of climate change, suggesting an increase in the diameter of drainage systems to help cope with flooding.

The picture painted by the Ipsos MORI survey, does contain some good news. It shows that satisfaction with the local road system has increased over the past year – 58 per cent are now very or fairly satisfied, an improvement of seven percentage points from autumn 2007.

Satisfaction with road maintenance remains at 46 per cent, the same as the last survey, with younger people (25 to 34 year-olds) being more content at 56 per cent than 55 to 64 year-olds at 37 per cent.

Mr Jackson added: “On a positive note, public satisfaction with the highway network has been maintained at the higher level compared to the position a few years beforehand. This is clearly a direct result of the continued good work carried out by the highways authorities throughout the UK.

“A lot of the money that those authorities have earmarked for highways safety improvements already goes into junction layouts. However, this survey shows that it remains something to be aware of for the future.

“What this survey does show quite clearly is that the Government does need to heed the warning about drainage when considering funding priorities for the future.”

end

Media Contact

• If you have any general queries regarding this news please contact Mike Jackson, chair of CSS Finance Committee (01603 222500) or Susan Tolman, Daybreak Communications office 0845 644 3845; mobile 07786 543430; susan.tolman@daybreakcomm.co.uk
• If you have any queries on survey methodology or findings, please contact Ben Marshall at Ipsos MORI (020 7347 3000).
• Travel is Good CSS report is available from www.cssnet.org.uk.

 Notes to Editors

• CSS represents Local Authority Chief Officers who manage some of the most pressing issues facing the UK today. Membership is drawn from all four corners of the United Kingdom with members responsible for three-quarters of the road network, two thirds of the land area and just under half the population of England and Wales. Operating at the strategic tier of local government, they are closely involved in crucial transport, waste management, environment, planning, energy and economic development issues.                                                                                         
• This survey, conducted by Ipsos MORI is based on a nationally representative quota sample of 2,032 adults (aged 16+) interviewed throughout Great Britain. Interviews were carried out using CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing – laptops) face to face in respondent’s homes between 18-23 September 2008. Data are weighted to reflect the national population profile. The previous survey was conducted in 2007. This is the ninth annual survey.
• The people interviewed included both car users and non-car users. When questioned about the modes of transport they had used, 88 per cent had used cars, 51 per cent the bus, 34 per cent the train, and 17 per cent had cycled during the last month.
•  The survey provides a wealth of insights into public attitudes and perceptions. As well as highlighting attitudes across gender, age and social classes, the CSS survey provides a regional perspective with varying attitudes across Wales, Scotland and the English Regions.

Headline results from the survey show:

Satisfaction with Roads and Road Maintenance

• Levels of satisfaction with road maintenance have changed little over the course of the past year, with five per cent being very satisfied compared to six per cent last year, and forty one per cent being satisfied compared to 40 per cent in 2007.
• Satisfaction with the road system has increased from 52 per cent to 58 per cent.
• Junction layouts and width of carriageway were the aspects of road carriageways which recorded the largest increase of people identifying them as important, with 31 per cent choosing junction layout (10 per cent higher than the previous survey in 2007) and 18 per cent picking width of carriageway (that’s seven per cent more than before).

  Condition of foot pavements

• An increase of seven per cent of people thought that the number of obstructions (such as raised kerbs, waste paper bins) were important to them (increased to 38 per cent).
• There was a five point increase in mentions of the width or layout of the footpath as important, up to 30 per cent.

Trend in Transport

• The most commonly used mode of transport used in the previous month was the car - used by 88 per cent of people, compared to the next most used - buses are used by 51 per cent. That compares with 84 per cent for the car in 2007 and 47 per cent for buses.

Spending priorities

• Priorities for increased Government spending were given as: roads/carriageways (up eight points to 49 per cent; foot pavements (down two per cent to 42 per cent) drainage (up 16 per cent to 40 per cent).