The results are in from the Colwood Citizen Satisfaction Survey and the results show transportation and traffic are the top issues on the minds of residents in 2023.
The survey was conducted by Ipsos on behalf of the city and sampled 361 adult residents through an online survey running Jan. 26 to Feb. 22 accessed by unique codes mailed out to residents and with a margin of error of plus or minus 5.2 per cent.
It follows similar surveys conducted in 2015 and 2017 and is intended to be conducted every two years. It was put on hold during the worst of the pandemic as there were concerns the unique situation would produce anomalies in the data, according to city spokesperson Sandra Russell.
Russell said council and staff commission the surveys as a way to get a good understanding of the priorities of residents, as well as to gather hard data on what areas of the city’s services could use improving.
“Council members hear from citizens during their campaigns, and there is ongoing correspondence with staff … but this puts a little bit more data behind the input we already receive,” said Russell. “We always hear through these surveys that people enjoy a high quality of life here, and it has a lot to do with access to the ocean, recreation and our green spaces in Colwood.”
Transportation planning was the most important local issue for 27 per cent of respondents in an unprompted question on the survey, the largest percentage of the topics raised by respondents. It also saw 61 per cent of respondents rate it as a 10 out of 10 on the importance scale.
Russell said a surprise finding of the survey was how important community safety was as a local issue, as 50 per cent of respondents rated it a 10 out of 10 in importance.
“There is this need to better understand what factors make up community safety for people,” she said. “Are they thinking about cars speeding, are they thinking about crime, are they thinking about policing and fire rescue services?”
The survey also had respondents rate each category of city services on a satisfaction scale out of 10, and compared that with the 2017 and 2015 surveys.
On the whole, each service category was ranked the same or slightly lower than in previous years.
Fire services rated the highest at an average of 8.5 out of 10, down from the 8.9 it scored in 2017 but up from the 8.3 in 2015. Health and social services received the lowest score at 4.5 – down from 6.4 in 2017 and 6 in 2015.
“Some of the areas for improvement are related to health, and that’s not surprising with the kind of environment we have where we are struggling as a province and as a country to have enough doctors and health facilities open.”
Russell said the timing of the survey results is excellent as council has just started its strategic priority planning process for the remainder of their term, and the results of the survey will play a key role in it.