The results of a month-long survey open to all Mid Devon residents were discussed by the Council’s Cabinet this week.

The resident and budget survey ran throughout November and more than 1600 residents completed the questionnaire.

 Results from the survey have been used to feed into the Council’s budget setting process and will be used to help steer future plans and the prioritising of services.

This year questions included topics such as climate change and economic recovery from the Coronavirus pandemic, as well as listening to how our communities feel about our current service provision and where we can improve.

Leader of the Council, Bob Deed, said: “I would like to thank those who took the time to share their views with us. We represent you and your community so it is important for us to know your priorities, where you feel savings should be made and which areas we need to invest in. With budget cuts and costs increasing it is a challenge to balance the books and we must ensure we protect the services that matter most to our residents.”

Each year the Council has to balance its spending against money available in the form of Government Grants, Council Tax and Business Rates. Over the last decade the Council has delivered a range of efficiencies totalling over £4m, whilst continuing to deliver the key services. Set against a challenging financial backdrop the Council has managed to set a balanced budget for 2022/23 and importantly already includes significant provision for our carbon reduction programme and to deliver at least 500 new social housing units over the next 5 years – two areas that the residents’ survey viewed as their top priorities.

The Council’s Cabinet met earlier this week (8 March 2022) to discuss the findings of the survey and a summary of the results is now available. Individual Cabinet members will now work with their service managers to establish why some scores were below national averages before establishing improvement plans in order to address residents’ feedback.