EAST Renfrewshire residents are “satisfied” with the area as a place to live, according to the latest Citizens’ Panel Survey.

The survey, which sought participants' views on council services, the cost of living, climate change, active communities and digital inclusion, found that 85% of the panel showed a high level of satisfaction with the area as a place to stay.

While 63% of respondents said they are satisfied with council services overall, 59% generally felt that there has been no recent change in the standard of council services.

Findings from the survey also found residents were most positive about education, libraries, recycling, bin collection, public parks and open spaces, and they were least positive about the area’s roads.

A total of 93% of the panel members rated the council’s secondary schools positively, 91% rated primary schools favourably and 88% for nursery education.

Bin collection was rated good by 83% of respondents, while libraries were rated positive by 92%, public parks by 86%, and recycling by 83%.

Councillor Andrew Anderson, deputy leader of East Renfrewshire Council, said: “It is pleasing that the majority of our residents are satisfied with East Renfrewshire as a place to live.

“Nationally, all local authorities are dealing with tough budget challenges and the impact of the continued increase of cost of living.

“Despite all of this, departments are performing well across the board and most respondents feel that the council and employees represent the council’s values – this is commendable to all of our staff who work hard on a daily basis.

“Our priorities will be to continue to support the most vulnerable in our communities, with projects such as our £4.4m cost of living recovery plan being extended into next winter.

“The council remains determined to support our communities through these uncertain times.”

With respondents being the least positive about the area’s roads, to target residential road upgrades, the council says it has committed an additional £15m capital investment for roads infrastructure over the following five years in its 2019/20 budget.

They say they’ll continue this in 2023/24 after an additional £3million of resources was committed to the roads maintenance programme to continue to invest in road and pavement resurfacing in residential streets across the area.

The Citizens' Panel Survey is made up of a representative sample of 1,000 residents and allows a means for local people to give their views.

The panel was conducted in autumn 2022.