Ipsos has undertaken a survey for Canterbury City Council in relation to its Local Plan. The survey measured local attitudes towards future development in the district and has been used alongside a Development Requirements Study (conducted by Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners). These studies are a precursor to the Council publishing a Preferred Option document in the autumn for consultation. Recently published, the survey findings included:

• There is majority support among the district’s residents for the building of new homes in the district in principle. Just under six in ten, 58%, either strongly or tend to support this while there is 22% opposition.
• There is stronger opposition in respect of building in the local area but, still, more support this than oppose; 46% against 35%.
• In principle support for building in the district increases if it means affordable homes for local residents (73%), if it allows young people to stay (77%) and if it helps create jobs (68%). In fact, 45% of those who opposed building in the district in principle go on to back it if it meant young people could stay.
• By contrast, there is a swing away from in principle support if it involves building on greenfield; 70% of all residents say they would oppose building in these circumstances as do 65% if it leads to an increase in traffic and congestion.
• While 46% agree that new housing developments would help to improve the local economy, 32% do not. Just under nine in ten, 89%, are of the view that homes should not be built until new infrastructure is in place.
• While a majority of residents back building in the district in principle, a smaller proportion, 26%, having been exposed to some of the key issues and shown the current rate of building, back more building than in the past (556 homes per year since 1990).

At the following question respondents were presented with four options derived from the ten different scenarios developed by Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners. The four options gave directional forecasts for population and employment if different numbers of new homes were built in the area.

• From the four options presented, around a third (32%) say that they would choose option B, involving a level of building similar to that over the last twenty year period (550 homes per annum), with a similar proportion (31%) selecting option C (760 homes). Around one in six (16%) say that they would like to see building reduced to around 150 new homes (Option A) and just under one in ten (eight per cent) would like to see the current rate of building doubled to around 1,140 new homes per year (Option D).

Further analysis, including commentary on the reasons why residents hold the views they do, and how these views might change, can be found in our report published on the Council’s website:

• Download the full report including survey questionnaire and topline (PDF)

Technical note

Ipsos interviewed 902 residents aged 16+ living within the Canterbury City Council district area. Fieldwork was carried out between 12 December 2011 and 15 February 2012 face-to-face in-home using quotas in 52 sampling points. Data has been weighted to the known population profile. (An additional 100 interviews were undertaken with on-campus university students).