Preston Quality Of Life Survey

85% of people living in Preston are satisfied with their local area as a place to live, 63% rate Preston highly and 86% see their communities as friendly.

Creation of job opportunities; ensuring affordable housing; traffic congestion and tackling speeding and bad driving; and making sure the City and neighbourhoods are clean were also key findings from the Preston Quality of Life Survey carried out by the Preston Strategic Partnership (PSP).

The survey is the most comprehensive ever carried out in Preston and covers health and well being; local environment; shopping and local economy; access to education, work, public and support services; community safety and the fear of crime.

Summary Of The Main Findings

• Two-thirds of respondents (63%) speak highly of the city: 14% are critical
• the preferred Vision initiatives are those relating to place rather than people: that is, the preferences are for making the city a place where people want to live, work and play, a place which is clean, attractive and well served by public transport, and one with decent affordable housing. Making residents healthier, more independent and fulfil their potential are seen as second order priorities
• the centre is appreciated for its fine range of shops: it is criticised for its parking provision and lack of public toilets
• after dark, only a quarter (28%) of respondents feel safe in the city on their own
• 50% of respondents have lived in their neighbourhood for over 10 years
• on balance respondents think their area has deteriorated over the past 3 years: 15% think it has improved, 33% think it has got worse
• overall, 85% are satisfied with their local area as a place to live
• when presented with facilities (e.g. police station, parks, play areas), respondents in the Preston Rural North ward see themselves as facing the greatest access problems
• respondents are most satisfied with the street lighting (83% satisfied) and the overall appearance of buildings (82% satisfied) in their area: there is ambivalence with CCTV security cameras
• amongst those stating an opinion, satisfaction with various services is high: i.e. quality of local schools - 85% are satisfied, quality of health services - 82% satisfied. The biggest concern is lack of local job opportunities (53% satisfied)
• compared with three years ago, the major improvements are seen to be in education and facilities for shops, exercise, leisure and young children. The major deterioration lies in traffic congestion and affordable housing
• respondents view their neighbourhoods as friendly and tolerant
• a third of respondents (37%) have undertaken at least some voluntary activity in the last year
• a quarter (24%) feel they can influence decisions about their local area
• the main Anti Social Behaviour activities are seen to be:
  • speeding / bad driving (43% cite this as a problem)
  • rubbish & litter lying about (33%)
  • teenagers hanging about (33%)
• after dark, 60% of respondents feel safe when out on their own in their neighbourhood but only a quarter (28%) feel safe in the city after dark
• a quarter of households (24%) have at least one member who has experienced a crime in the last 12 months: this relates mainly to vandalism, and almost two-thirds of victims have gone to the Police.
• half of respondents (54%) consider themselves to be in excellent or very good health
• while almost all respondents (98%) eat carbohydrates at least once a week, 59% eat fresh or frozen oil rich fish, and 37% take pulses at least weekly
• the claimed average intake of fruit / veg portions per day is 3.06: almost a fifth (18%) eat no or only 1 portion per day
• a third of respondents (31%) smoke
• a quarter of respondents (27%) are regular drinkers: a quarter (25%) are non-drinkers
• a quarter of respondents (26%) take no real exercise
• the health initiative most likely to generate take up is exercise classes, for adults and for children
• roundly 10% of respondents would like to be better at arithmetic (13%), writing English (11%) or reading English (8%)
• a quarter (27%) would like to be better at using computers and the internet

Technical details

The survey comprised 1,512 in home face-to-face interviews with people across the whole of Preston between 8 November 2005 and 12 February 2006. Interviews took place in a random sample of 197 local areas (Output areas) across the authority, carefully chosen to ensure the sample was geographically representative. Within each area, interviewers were given strict quotas by age, gender, working status and ethnicity based on the 2001 Census. Finally the profile of the achieved sample was checked and weighted to ensure the data fully reflected the profile of the local adult population.