Criticism over Bournemouth Council's monthly £1,000 bill for consultation (From Bournemouth Echo)

Criticism over Bournemouth Council's monthly £1,000 bill for consultation

10:00am Friday 27th November 2009

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NEWS that Bournemouth council spends £1,000 per month on public consultation has angered local councillors.

They discovered that telephone research agency Hill Taylor is paid the sum to make cold calls to residents after one complained about being contacted.

Now they have urged the council to stop the surveys, but council leader Stephen MacLoughlin insists they offer good value for money.

Cllr Ron Whittaker said: “We don’t need to pay any agency – this information can so easily be collected through the normal channels of the council and through the Bournemouth Journal.”

And Cllr Roger West added: “Surveys like this have almost no meaning as residents need all the facts to make a considered judgement. I can think of many better ways to spend that sort of money.”

Cllr MacLoughlin said the council has a legal duty to consult the public and that he believes a monthly telephone survey is one of the most effective ways to do so.

“The survey, which regularly receives a high response rate, is designed to find out how the public feel the council is performing so we can plan the allocation of resources and improve our services where necessary,” he said.

“As a direct result of residents’ feedback, this survey has contributed to the decision to introduce an evening cleansing shift in the town centre and a new area- based team to tackle fly tipping. Even at a time of reduced budgets, customer feedback is crucial.”

He said there is currently an online consultation exercise taking place and said the council is always looking for people to take part in e-mail and web-based surveys.

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