Citizens' Panel

Walsall Council is committed to working with, listening to and involving local people in our decision making. The citizens’ panel is just one of the ways we consult and engage local people in the decisions we make.

Background to Walsall Citizens' Panel

The Walsall Council citizens’ panel has now been in existence for three years. It is made up of approximately 1,250 people from across the borough, and includes people of all ages (18+ years), backgrounds, cultures and neighbourhoods.

Over the past three years we have consulted the panel on issues including libraries, museums and art galleries, customer service, Walsall markets and the future of the borough; including access to services, regeneration, the environment and the economy.

Importantly we involve panel members in the annual budget setting process. Every year the council must decide how to allocate available money to the wide range of services we provide. Difficult choices have to be made between different and competing spending priorities, and the citizens’ panel is just one of the ways we involve local residents in helping decide where the council should focus its expenditure.

Listening and responding to the public, as citizens and service users, is fundamental to our work and without consultation tools like the citizens panel, we cannot be sure that our services are the right ones, or that they meet the needs and expectations of local residents. Other ways the council currently consults with local people include Local Neighbourhood Partnerships (LNPs), focus groups and workshops, web surveys, specific postal surveys and ‘Tell Us’ the councils corporate comments, compliments and complaints procedure. www.walsall.gov.uk/complaints_compliments

What being a panel member involves

Panel members agree to join the panel and to complete around 4 postal questionnaires a year, which normally take about 20 minutes to complete. Anticipated topics for 2007 include identifying areas for service improvement, how satisfied or dissatisfied you are with the Council and other services, and priorities for investing public money in Walsall. As long as you are a resident of Walsall and are aged over 18 years, anyone can become a panel member.

Membership of the panel allows residents to make their opinions known directly to the people who make decisions about how the Council is run and responses help shape future services. Panel members receive feedback on the results of surveys, and results/outcomes may also be published in local newspapers and other publications. By being a member of the citizens’ panel residents may also have the opportunity from time to time to give their views on the services run by other organisations that work in partnership with the council, such as the local NHS and the police.

Data Protection

The Walsall citizens’ panel is managed by independent research agency BMG Research. BMG is registered with the Data Protection Commissioner and complies fully with the Market Research Society Code of Conduct www.mrs.org.uk/code. Panel members’ anonymity is guaranteed. BMG never reveal, to anyone including the council, the names or addresses of panel members. When analysing survey results responses are not linked to individuals’ names or anything that could identify them.

Joining the Walsall Citizens’ Panel

Panel membership is undertaken via postal recruitment questionnaires which are sent to a random selection of households across the borough. Willing residents complete and return the recruitment questionnaire which asks simple questions about them, their household and lifestyle. Knowing basic information about panel members such as their age, gender, ethnicity and household composition helps us analyse and better understand the results and compare opinions across key groups and geographic areas. The council wants to ensure that its panel broadly reflects the borough as a whole, with the panel membership matching as far as possible the composition of the whole borough.

Each year one third of panel members are changed. The longest standing members are removed from the panel and replaced with new members. This ensures that more people are given the opportunity to join the panel and that panel members continue to reflect the population of the borough.

If you would like your name to be added to the reserve list of panel members please email steve.handley@bmgresearch.co.uk panel. Please include your full name address and telephone number in the email. Alternatively you can write to:

Steve Handley
BMG Research
Freepost BM1078
Birmingham
B7 4BR

BMG will add your details to the reserve panel and will contact you when you are selected to join.

Latest Survey

The next Citizens' Panel survey is planned for November 2008. Details will be available here shortly.

Survey results and outcomes

Spring 2008 survey - Living in the borough of Walsall

Along with our partners we have commissioned the production of our first Community Cohesion Strategy and Action Plan. The documents capture what’s working well in the borough of Walsall, what could work better and possible actions for ensuring our communities are strong and prosperous. We’ve also produced a report called “understanding our communities” that brings together lots of different information and data about our communities one place.

Before our Action Plan is finalised in June 2008, we wanted the views of the Walsall Citizens' Panel on what it’s like to live in the borough of Walsall. The questionnaire (92KB PDF) was 8 pages long and took around 20 minutes to complete. The closing date for responses was April 15 2008.

A full report of the March 2008 survey results (1.46MB) is now available.

October 2007 survey - Budget Consultation Financial year 2008/09

In order to develop our future plans we need your views to find out what issues are important to you, what most needs improving and what you think we need to concentrate our resources on. This information is particularly important as it will help us make decisions about our budget.

The results from the October Citizens' Panel survey has been combined with other consultation work that has been undertaken and has been used to help prepare and agree the budget for the financial year, 2008/09. Responses to the October panel survey helped decide the best way to allocate available money and to identify the key service areas that residents of Walsall borough, particularly want.

You can find out more by reading our summary of results (1.21 MB PDF) or full report of results (1.27MB PDF).

Visit the Budget Consultation pages to find out more about the budget setting process.

July 2007 Survey - Connecting with our customers

Walsall Council are working to improve the customer experience by planning service delivery around residents' requirements and how they would like to access our services. We have implemented a First Stop Shop and our website was recently listed as the best in the Midlands. Furthermore we are in the process of developing a one stop contact centre, local access points and a community bus, all with the purpose of making it easier for people to access our services. Ultimately our aim is to provide accessible, reliable and usable services through a variety of channels. The website and new technology will be used to provide more choice for those who live, work, visit and do business in the borough.

In the July survey we wanted to find out how our customers prefer to contact and deal with us. The results from this survey are being used to help us better understand how our customers use services, how they access the web and other technologies and to measure how satisfied or dissatisfied residents are with the delivery of our services. Responses to the questionnaire are now being analysed and used to improve our understanding of our customer's needs, which we will then use to help deliver improved and excellent customer service. A summary of findings (PDF 1MB) has been sent to panel members and a full report of results is available.

February 2007 survey - Waste, recycling, transport and The Arboretum

Thank you to everyone who responded to the February survey. A full report of the findings (PDF 649KB) is now available or you can read the shorter summary of findings (PDF 905KB)

The survey had three themes; waste and recycling, transport in Walsall and Walsall Arboretum.

We wanted to find out what residents think about the refuse collection service, household waste recycling centres (tips) and the current kerbside recycling service, in particular what residents are currently recycling, what residents would like to be able to recycle and what the council can do to help people recycle more.

Answers are being used to help improve and develop the waste and recycling services we provide, reduce the amount of waste that goes to landfill sites and help the council meet challenging recycling targets agreed with government.

Walsall Council is committed to ensuring a clean and green borough, as well as making it easier for people to get around. We are seeking to protect the local environment whilst encouraging economic activity, improving safety and generally improving the quality of life for our community.

Residents have already told us that traffic congestion is a major issue, and national trends suggest that the pressure on our roads will increase over the next ten to fifteen years. We cannot build more roads to solve the problem, but we must safeguard the mobility and economic development the car has brought us. To do nothing would be irresponsible - we must try and reduce traffic, encourage alternative modes of travel and make better use of the roads we have. Views from the citizens’ panel are helping us decide where we should be focusing our efforts and what improvements residents would most like to see us make.

There are over 200 parks and open spaces within the borough of Walsall covering approximately 950 hectares. Walsall Arboretum, on the edge of the town centre, is one boroughs most beautiful and best-loved parks. Questions in the February 2007 survey asked about residents’ use of and satisfaction with facilities at the Arboretum, and what would improve the park for those who use it. Responses have been used to support a Heritage Lottery Fund bid for Walsall Arboretum which if successful will lead to a £8 million restoration programme for one of the borough’s flagship parks.

Contact us

Anna Sansom
Corporate Consultation and Customer Feedback Officer
Walsall Council
Darwall Street
Walsall
West Midlands
WS1 1TP

Telephone 01922 653520
Fax 01922 614210
Email sansomanna@walsall.gov.uk