In this section
- Heatwave warning
- £1million for more borough playgrounds
- Record numbers for youth services
- New children's centre for Hampton
- New task group helps parents participate in their children’s education
- Emergency support for carers
- People needed to help disabled children take part in activities
- Greycourt School pupil designs Council’s new youth web pages
- Homecare standards at new high
- Heathrow meeting call to new transport secretary
- Council makes cycling even easier
- Making more allotments available
- Have your say on the re-development of the Avenue Centre
- Pupils aim to go waste free for lunch
- Twickenham Carnival comes to town
- Young people's votes to decide how £1million youth fund is spent
- Richmond upon Thames - the best place to live
- Lord Puttnam visits as Art Fund Prize decision day looms
- Drive easy in Richmond town centre
- Healthy alternative to drugs
- Council concerned over preservation of Normansfield
- Teaching Awards hope for Hampton Hill
- Last chance to help Orleans House Gallery win £100,000
- Be local, buy local, and be proud of Whitton
Release Date: 09/06/2009
Richmond upon Thames - the best place to live
Richmond upon Thames is the best place in London to live according to its residents. The findings are the result of the recent place survey which was carried out nationwide at the end of last year and published recently.
92% of Richmond upon Thames residents’ are satisfied with the borough as a place to live making them the most satisfied in London.
Resident satisfaction with the way the council runs things at 53% is the highest in the suburbs and among the best in capital. The results follow the latest crime figures which show the borough to be the safest in London.
Commenting on the survey, Cllr Serge Lourie, leader of the Council said:
“The first ever independent place survey has some encouraging news for our Borough and it also shows us where we need to do more work. It is particularly good to see that we continue to be regarded as the best place in London to live while at the same time resident satisfaction with how the council runs things is the highest in outer London and among the best in London.
“We have some very highly rated services such as libraries and refuse collection but our parks and open spaces which continue to be the most popular in the country deserve special mention. The 93% approval rating is a credit to the work of the Council’s Parks Department and the Royal Parks who both do such an outstanding job.
“The survey shows that community safety is the top priority for our residents. It was particularly satisfying therefore when the recent crime figures confirmed that we are the safest borough in London. Together with the police and our other partners, we work hard to achieve this.
“There are challenges for us as well. We are rated as an excellent authority by the Audit Commission yet one in five of our residents in this survey are not satisfied with how we do things. We are given the top score for Value for Money by the Audit Commission yet one in three of our residents do not agree.
“The challenge is to work closer with our partners and local people to keep improving the borough. While we are making good progress in many areas and have a lot to be proud of, this report shows us where we still have work to do.”
These results are provisional and are expected to be confirmed when the national results are released on Tuesday 23 June.
View the full press release