Survey Restuls - in detail

We asked... You said...

The Council is well aware that there are repairs and improvements that tenants and leaseholders would like to be made to your homes and communal areas. The fact of the matter is that, despite our best efforts, we do not have enough money to carry out this work. This is because central Government takes away a third of the money you pay us in rent to be spent on housing in other parts of the country.

As a result, the condition of council-owned homes across the borough is getting worse. The Council is very worried about this and is looking at the options available for improving things in the future. We asked an independent research company, QA Research, to carry out a survey in April because we wanted to know what you think about the situation and whether you agree with us; that something needs to be done to improve things in the future.

So what did you tell us?

2,308 tenants and leaseholders completed and returned their surveys – a very high response rate of 37% – illustrating the interest surrounding this important issue. The key findings of the survey were:

More than half (56%) of the respondents were not satisfied with the general condition of their home and only 9% think the condition of their home has improved over the last three years.
A similar number (52%) were not satisfied with the condition of the areas around their homes (i.e. communal areas) and only 6% think the condition of these areas has improved over the last three years.
The vast majority (90%) of respondents agreed with the Council; that things cannot carry on as they are and that something has to be done to improve the quality of homes and surrounding areas.
Seven out of ten were aware that the Council does not have enough money to maintain and improve homes and surrounding areas.

The survey also revealed that there is a strong level of awareness amongst residents as to why this lack of money exists - 60% said they were aware that a significant proportion of the money they pay in rent is spent by central Government in other parts of the country. Just over half (55%) were also aware that if the management of the housing stock was transferred over to a Housing Association, Kingston would be allowed to keep all of the money collected in rents and invest it back locally.

How did the views of you and your neighbours compare to others in the borough?

The following tables report the feedback to the Tenant and Leaseholder Survey by the ten largest estates/areas in the borough

You can either read through the tables in order, or, if you are interested in looking at the answers given to a particular question, you can jump straight to the relevant section by using the links below:

1. We asked... Are you satisfied with the general condition of your home (e.g. windows, doors, kitchens, bathrooms)?

You said:

Areas	Yes	No
All areas	44%	56%
Alpha Road	32%	68%
Cambridge Gardens	41%	59%
Cambridge Road	44%	56%
Chessington Court	20%	80%
Cumberland House	19%	81%
Kingsnympton	49%	51%
School Lane	50%	50%
Sheephouse Way / South Lane	24%	76%
York Way / Garrison Lane	24%	76%
All other areas	45%	55%
Leaseholders	61%	39%

Leaseholders (61%) and those of you living on the School Lane Estate (50%) are significantly more likely than average to be satisfied with the condition of your home. Those of you living in Cumberland House (81%) and Chessington Court (80%) are the least satisfied with the condition of your homes.

2. We asked... Do you think the condition of your home has got better, worse or stayed about the same over the last three years?

You said:

Area	Better	Worse	About the same
All areas	9%	34%	52%
Alpha Road	11%	46%	37%
Cambridge Gardens	13%	40%	43%
Cambridge Road	6%	32%	55%
Chessington Court	4%	40%	53%
Cumberland House	4%	46%	46%
Kingsnympton	9%	28%	61%
School Lane	7%	32%	56%
Sheephouse Way / South Lane	6%	51%	38%
York Way / Garrison Lane	7%	37%	53%
All other areas	10%	34%	53%
Leaseholders	9%	25%	57%

If you live in the Sheephouse Way/South Lane area (51%) or on the Alpha Road Estate (46%) you are significantly more likely than average to think that the condition of your home has got worse over the last three years. Those of you who live on the Kingsnympton Estate are most likely (61%) to think that things have stayed about the same.

3. We asked... Are you satisfied with the general condition of the area around your home (i.e. stairwells, entrances, lifts, grounds, paths and parking areas)?

You said:

Area	Yes	No
All areas	48%	52%
Alpha Road	45%	55%
Cambridge Gardens	35%	65%
Cambridge Road	35%	65%
Chessington Court	69%	31%
Cumberland House	24%	76%
Kingsnympton	43%	57%
School Lane	43%	57%
Sheephouse Way / South Lane	30%	70%
York Way / Garrison Lane	27%	73%
All other areas	59%	41%
Leaseholders	29%	71%

Those of you living in Cumberland House (76%) and the York Way/Garrison Lane area (73%) are the most likely to be dissatisfied with the general condition of the areas surrounding your homes. On the other hand, those living in Chessington Court are significantly more likely (69%) to be satisfied with the condition of these surrounding areas.

4. We asked... Do you think the condition of the area around you home has got better, worse or stayed about the same over the last three years?

You said:

Areas	Better	Worse	About the same
All areas	6%	36%	53%
Alpha Road	7%	40%	47%
Cambridge Gardens	6%	46%	44%
Cambridge Road	7%	39%	47%
Chessington Court	8%	19%	69%
Cumberland House	4%	46%	50%
Kingsnympton	14%	25%	59%
School Lane	7%	41%	46%
Sheephouse Way / South Lane	1%	55%	39%
York Way / Garrison Lane	3%	47%	50%
All other areas	6%	29%	51%
Leaseholders	4%	47%	39%

If you live in the Sheephouse Way/South Lane area, you are significantly more likely (55%) to think that the area around your home has got worse over the last three years. In contrast, the majority of you living in Chessington Court (69%) think that the condition of these areas has stayed about the same.

5. We asked... Are you aware that the Council does not have enough money to maintain and improve your home and the communal areas around it?

You said:

Areas	Yes	No
All areas	71%	29%
Alpha Road	78%	22%
Cambridge Gardens	64%	36%
Cambridge Road	63%	37%
Chessington Court	78%	22%
Cumberland House	77%	23%
Kingsnympton	60%	40%
School Lane	85%	15%
Sheephouse Way / South Lane	67%	33%
York Way / Garrison Lane	79%	21%
All other areas	75%	25%
Leaseholders	62%	38%

Leaseholders (38%) and those of you living on the Cambridge Road Estate (37%) are the least likely to be aware of the fact that Kingston Council does not have enough money to make such changes and improvements. Those of you living on the School Lane Estate (85%) were the most likely to be aware of this problem.

6. We asked... Do you agree that things cannot carry on like this and something needs to be done to improve the quality of your homes and surroundings?

You said:

Areas	Yes	No
All areas	90%	10%
Alpha Road	96%	4%
Cambridge Gardens	92%	8%
Cambridge Road	91%	9%
Chessington Court	91%	9%
Cumberland House	88%	12%
Kingsnympton	89%	11%
School Lane	88%	12%
Sheephouse Way / South Lane	92%	8%
York Way / Garrison Lane	97%	3%
All other areas	90%	10%
Leaseholders	90%	10%

Almost everyone living in the York Way/Garrison Lane area (97%) agrees with the statement. Those of you living in Cumberland House (88%) and School Lane (88%) are less likely to agree, but the difference is not significant - there is widespread agreement across the borough with this statement.

7. We asked... Are you aware that the Government takes around a third of the money paid by Kingston Council tenants to spend in other areas of the country?

You said:

Areas	Yes	No
All areas	60%	40%
Alpha Road	65%	35%
Cambridge Gardens	50%	50%
Cambridge Road	55%	45%
Chessington Court	67%	33%
Cumberland House	72%	28%
Kingsnympton	45%	55%
School Lane	71%	29%
Sheephouse Way / South Lane	49%	51%
York Way / Garrison Lane	60%	40%
All other areas	61%	39%
Leaseholders	58%	42%

There is a strong level of awareness of this amongst residents. Awareness levels are highest in Cumberland House (72%) and School Lane (71%) and lowest in Kingsnympton (45%) and the Sheephouse Way/South Lane areas (49%).

8. We asked... Are you aware that a Housing Association would be able to invest millions of pounds of extra money in improving the quality of your homes without having to rely on rent increases to pay for it?

You said:

Areas	Yes	No
All areas	55%	45%
Alpha Road	68%	32%
Cambridge Gardens	40%	60%
Cambridge Road	51%	49%
Chessington Court	63%	37%
Cumberland House	63%	38%
Kingsnympton	34%	66%
School Lane	56%	44%
Sheephouse Way / South Lane	53%	47%
York Way / Garrison Lane	52%	48%
All other areas	57%	43%
Leaseholders	52%	48%

A little over half (55%) of you said that you were aware of this. Those of you living on the Alpha Road Estate (68%) are significantly more likely than average to consider that you are aware of this. Conversely, those of you living on the Kingsnympton Estate (66%) and Cambridge Gardens Estate (60%) are less likely to feel aware of this.

9. We asked... How long have you/your household been a tenant of the Council?

You said:

Areas	Up to 3 years	4-10 years	10 years+
All areas	14%	24%	60%
Alpha Road	15%	26%	56%
Cambridge Gardens	17%	21%	57%
Cambridge Road	15%	23%	58%
Chessington Court	6%	23%	65%
Cumberland House	n/a	28%	64%
Kingsnympton	13%	33%	52%
School Lane	24%	34%	41%
Sheephouse Way / South Lane	13%	23%	62%
York Way / Garrison Lane	10%	31%	59%
All other areas	12%	20%	56%
Leaseholders	20%	32%	42%

10. We asked... In 2004, the Council asked tenants and leaseholders to vote on stock transfer (the transfer of Council housing to a housing association). Did you vote?

You said:

Areas	Yes	No
All areas	49%	28%
Alpha Road	55%	21%
Cambridge Gardens	43%	23%
Cambridge Road	44%	31%
Chessington Court	60%	13%
Cumberland House	75%	13%
Kingsnympton	33%	25%
School Lane	39%	34%
Sheephouse Way / South Lane	48%	28%
York Way / Garrison Lane	41%	34%
All other areas	51%	27%
Leaseholders	39%	37%