All in One

Leading the way in Localism

In May 2010 you told us you wanted a new relationship with the Council.  You wanted an end to the tired Town-Hall-Knows-Best culture at the top of the last administration that ignored your views and let us all down so badly.  You wanted to be heard.  You told us how proud you are of the Borough and you wanted to be involved in making decisions for your own area.

We promised that in our first year we would consult you and in November 2010 we sent out a questionnaire to every home asking about the issues that mattered most in your local area and those that needed improving.  Over 13,500 of you responded giving the Council a better picture than ever before of what people want. 6,000 of you said you wanted to help shape the future of our Borough.

This was just the beginning of our conversation and in the spring and summer of 2011 we held drop in events in all parts of the Borough giving everyone the opportunity to discuss Local Action plans to make their area better and put forward ideas about what we can do together.

For those who were unable to attend the events there is still an opportunity to have your say at the new online community – ‘My Richmond Villages’. This is an online series of forums, polls and blogs – giving you the chance to continue the debate.  Try it for yourself at www.richmond.gov.uk/my_richmond_villages.

92% of those of you who responded are satisfied or very satisfied with your local area as a place to live which makes you among the most satisfied in the country.  But you told us there is scope to make it even better.  For example;

Asked what makes your area a good place to live your top features were:

• Parks and open spaces (73%)
• Levels of crime and anti-social behaviour (38%)
• Shopping in local high streets (35%)

Among those areas you think most need improving are:

• Traffic and congestion (34%)
• Condition of pavements (30%) and roads (20%)
• Shopping in local high streets (22%)

You can down load the results for your area by selecting from the pdf documents at the bottom of this page.

Business All in One

We would not have a complete picture of each area without hearing from our local businesses, employers and work places so we asked for their priorities in an on-line survey.  Like residents their concerns included parking, improvement to our shopping areas and they indicated a wish to play a bigger role in their local communities.

Business make an important contribution to the character of our Borough and this is the first opportunity they have had to tell us how they want to get involved.  We welcome their participation in drawing up the Local Action plans.