NHT Conference 2013 Reality verses perception……

Medway Council

Medway Network 840 km of highway network comprising: 110 km of A Roads (including Medway Tunnel) 37 km of B Roads 97 km of C Roads 596 km of Unclassified Roads Predominantly urban network Three distinct geographical areas: - Urban - Chatham, Gillingham and Rochester - Urban - Strood - Rural – Grain Peninsula

National Highways and Transport Survey started in 2008 as a cost-effective way to capture customer opinion It is a perception survey verses factual data………. Includes some maps (to ward level) to allow spatial analysis and allows for breakdown by customer base Helps us understand change – analysis over time Provides a great deal of information for local reporting and also allows for benchmarking ( ) How helpful are the findings and how can we use them in Medway? What is and why NHT

Benchmarking across the SE7 area One of 40+ unitary authorities participating Medway participated in – 2011, 2012 and 2013 Recipient list drawn up by Ipsos MORI based on random sample of Medway addresses 4,500 questionnaires sent to households in Medway summer 2012 with 734 responses, a return rate of 16.31% Why NHT in Medway

Highway spend £ per head of population

Year168 Condition 2008/095% 2009/104% 2010/115% 2011/126% 2012/135% Year169 Condition 2008/0911% 2009/1011% 2010/1112% 2011/1213% 2012/1312% National Indicator NI168 Principal Roads/169 Non Principal Roads

HP26 Satisfaction with roads HP 27 pavements 400 telephone calls to a random sample across Medway, whilst ensuring demographic and protected characteristics are covered Local Tracker

YearHP26 Roads 2011/12 Q146% 2011/12 Q247% 2011/12 Q356% 2011/12 Q450% 2012/13 Q144% 2012/13 Q252% 2012/13 Q349% 2012/13 Q443% 2013/14 Q138% Year HP27 Pavements 2011/12 Q /12 Q270% 2011/12 Q371% 2011/12 Q472% 2012/13 Q169% 2012/13 Q269% 2012/13 Q368% 2012/13 Q466% 2013/14 Q169% Local Tracker

NHT data Year% Satisfied Unitary Authorities (40) Rank All Authorities (75) Rank How satisfied or dissatisfied were the public in transport and highway services? Similar to the Tracker indicator

What do people in Medway think are the priorities? Most important Most in need of improvement Condition of Roads (21%) Condition of Roads (25%) Pavements & Footpaths (19%) Pavements & Footpaths (18%) Safety on Roads (17%) Traffic and Congestion levels(16%)

Satisfaction with Highway maintenance 49% Local satisfaction with road maintenance 48% Close to national average across the theme

Scope to improve against the best performer: condition of road surfaces, speed and quality of repairs and potholes

Fall in satisfaction - obstructions on pavements Significant increase in satisfaction (+11.09%) with cold weather gritting

Satisfaction with cold weather gritting, by ward

In Conclusion, the top 5 areas that people found to be the most important and the most in need of improvement: Condition of roads Pavements and Footpaths Safety on the roads Tackling Congestion Local Bus Services NHT data consistent with locally gathered satisfaction information - suggesting the survey results are a useful gauge of satisfaction General satisfaction with transport and highway services puts us 31 out of 75 authorities (18 out 40 unitary authorities)

Perception verses reality condition data. Why when we have a highway condition survey of around 6% needing maintenance, do we have a satisfaction result of highway condition of less than 50% What more can we do More questions about detail, if an answer is poor, why do they think its poor etc etc

NHT Conference 2013 Phil Moore (TAG President) Head of highways and parking services