Town 'deserves better' as survey slams council

Leader Martin Gannon said "we need to do better" as a council survey shows just a 21% satisfaction rate

Only one in five residents are satisfied with their local authority, according to an in-house survey.

More than 3,000 residents responded to Gateshead Council's questionnaire, with 21% saying they were happy with how the council runs its services and 18% agreeing the council provides value for money and responds to concerns.

Labour council leader Martin Gannon admitted the results had sent a "clear message" that "we need to do better", but said the authority had faced "years and years of huge cuts".

The Lib Dem opposition leader Ron Beadle, who had recently called for the survey results to be published, said it was "an awful verdict on Labour's leadership; Gateshead deserves better".

There were 3,195 responses to the survey which ran between March and July this year, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Respondents named their top priorities for Gateshead as cutting levels of anti-social behaviour, more street cleaning and improved roads and pavements.

The effects of the closure of the Gateshead flyover, drug use and delays to housing repairs also featured.

Sense of belonging

Satisfaction with street cleaning is at 30% and road and pavement maintenance at 16% and 19% respectively, but 70% were happy with bin collections.

Just over half of residents said they were satisfied with their local area as a place to live, down from 64% in 2018, while 58% felt their area had become worse over the past year.

However, about two-thirds of respondents said they felt a strong sense of belonging in Gateshead.

The council said it had made "significant investment" to crack down on issues like graffiti and fly-tipping, as well as filling more potholes, and the borough had seen reductions in violence anti-social behaviour and vehicle crime.

Gannon said while the situation is "slowly improving" with funding from central government, "it will take time to undo the damage that those cuts inflicted on us."