The full details of the 2008 Annual Opinion Survey of Birmingham residents was published last month. It was undertaken by BMG Research on behalf of Be Birmingham. I’m not sure why its taken so long to get the full report published (the fieldwork took place between September and November 2008) but it is a huge document, with lots of interesting details. Around 250 residents in each of Birmingham’s 10 constituencies took part in the Survey through a face to face interview.

Overall satisfaction of respondents with their local area as a place to live rose to 86% from 79% in 2007 (and 78% in 2004). Meanwhile the overall perception of the City Council’s performance has been stable for the past three years with around two thirds (67% in 2008) saying they are very or fairly satisfied with the Council. This is up from 56% in 2004, the year the Lib Dem / Conservative Progressive Partnership took control of the City from Labour.

The three issues that people feel are most important in making somewhere a good area to live are:

• Clean Streets – 49%,
• The level of crime – 40%
•  Activities for teenagers – 31%.

Perhaps not surprisingly it is the same three issues that people prioritise for improvement in their local area.  

The main challenges facing Birmingham were felt to be:

• Dealing with crime 23%
• Helping people to find jobs 17%
• Making poeple feel safer 13%
• Providing more affordable housing 13%

My guess would be that helping people to find jobs would have risen to the top of the pile by now, given the rise in unemployment over the last year.

On Climate Change it is encouraging to see that only 1% felt it does not exist. 34% felt they knew a lot or quite a lot about it, whereas 21% felt they knew either not much or nothing. 81% of people say they have done something to affect climate change. 52% say they have installed low energy lightbulbs, 51% say they recycle more and 45% say they switch off household appliances rather than leave them on standby.