District councils have a marginally higher approval rating than county councils, a new survey suggests.
The poll of 1,000 people living in English shire areas with both types of council found that 54% expressed satisfaction with their district council.
The satisfaction levels were slightly lower — 46% — when it came to county councils.
The survey, which was carried out by independent analysts BritainThinks, also revealed greater name-recognition for district councils than for county councils, with 59% of residents being able to identify their district, compared to 32% their county council.
Sixty-three percent of people described their district council as high-quality.
Districts were also more trusted to boost local pride, bring local people’s views into decision making, tackle social issues and respond to local emergencies than county councils or national Government.
The District Council Network (DCN) highlighted the fact that these findings come a month before 17 district councils are to be abolished in Cumbria, North Yorkshire and Somerset, to be replaced by larger unitary authorities.
DCN chair Cllr Sam Chapman-Allen said that the poll was an ‘endorsement of the scale of district councils’.
‘We are the most localised principal authorities – our boundaries are for the most part built around easily-identifiable market towns, seaside communities, new towns and cathedral cities. We are genuinely local government,’ he said.
‘The fact that we are close to all our residents helps us win trust. Our localised nature gives us a unique convening power to pull together local people and to channel our collective energy towards moving our places forward. This often means we are best placed to drive change.
‘But this research also reaffirms that local government in two-tier areas works. Residents recognise the different strengths of district and county councils.’
Ben Shimshon, co-founder and managing partner, BritainThinks, said: ‘The picture of district councils that emerges from this research is of a well-understood, locally focussed and largely effective provider of services that matter to local residents.
‘Whilst there is always room to improve – and almost a fifth of residents express some dissatisfaction with the performance of their council – this research demonstrates that district councils are working from a strong base, with majorities of residents feeling that they have the interests of local communities at heart, that they deliver services that matter for their community, and that their areas would be worse off without their district council.’
