Spelthorne Borough Council

Providing Quality Services to the People of
Ashford, Laleham, Shepperton, Staines, Stanwell & Sunbury

Website survey and public consultation

Public consultation

We aim to be in touch with the needs and priorities of our residents. We carry out regular consultation with the public and publish the results.

Website statistics

We aim to have the website available 99% of the time. We regularily monitor the availability of our website and you can view statistics on the website's performance.

Website survey

Since November 2005 we have been inviting a proportion of visitors to our website to answer ten questions on what they think of it. We aim to improve satisfaction with our website by listening to our customers' comments and acting upon them.

Below is a summary of some of the comments that have been made about our website since the survey started and an explanation on how we have acted on these comments and/or how we plan to make future improvements. You may also view results of some survey questions.

Your feedback is welcome and if you wish to make any further comments please complete our survey if you are prompted to do so, or contact the web team by completing an e-form. Please note that we are unable to reply directly to any comments made via the survey.

Problem	What we did
Broken link on homepage to refuse/recycling area	This link has now been amended and points to the correct page.
Out of date information on the site	We try to make sure that the information on the site is as up to date as possible but occasionally a page may be missed. We have spent a lot of time checking the site recently to make sure pages are up to date. We have received information that the site is out of date because of news releases - this is because these are left on the site for 12 months and so older ones can appear when you search.
Not always clear if something relates to Spelthorne or Surrey	The A-Z of Services that appears on the homepage has been updated to show the responsible authority for each subject. Do use the category list down the left hand side of the screen. We have also tried to update our pages to reflect this ie. the education pages and library page state that these facilities are run by Surrey County Council.
Trying to locate refuse tip in another Borough	The recycling page has been updated to provide a link to both Runnymede and Elmbridge websites.
Trying to pay Council Tax online, takes five to six steps to get to the payment page	The way to pay Council Tax online has been simplified and a link has been added for payments online under the Quick Links area on the homepage.
Problem finding swimming timetables – too long winded	Swimming timetables can be found under the Leisure area and can be reached in four clicks.
Trying to find a map of how to get to the crematorium	A link has been added to Multimap giving directions from the Council Offices in Staines to the crematorium in Hanworth.
Complaints about coloured text on coloured backgrounds ie yellow text on a blue background	To make the site as accessible as possible we provide a print only version, text only version and change contrast version. The black background and yellow writing is used for people with visual impairments. There are headings at the top right hand corner of the page that allow you to change the look of the website.
Link to Buy with Confidence Scheme is broken	We regularly run a link checker for our site and any broken links are repaired. We do link to other sites to provide the information required and occasionally these sites may not be available.
Having trouble finding information on Trading Standards	Trading Standards is provided by Surrey County Council. We do give basic information on our site with telephone numbers etc. and we do provide a link through to the Trading Standards area on Surrey County Council’s website.
Bank Holiday rubbish collection information	We try to make sure that this information is provided as a hot topic link on the homepage of our website for every Bank Holiday.
Rubbish collection is known as 'waste' on the site	Although we use the term 'waste' on the site if you use the search facility and type in 'rubbish collection' the details will be displayed. We have tried to think of different terms that people use so as to make the search area as useful as possible.
Could not apply to go on the housing list online so will have to come to the housing office to do so	The Housing Application form is available as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file which you can print and complete. We are currently in the process of transferring our forms to online forms.
Please provide a list of cab companies working in the Spelthorne area	A list of licensed taxi firms is available under the Environment and Planning/Transport area of this website. The information provided includes telephone numbers and whether or not they have wheelchair facilities.
Lack of telephone numbers for each area ie planning, environmental services flooding depart etc.	Departmental telephone numbers are not generally published on our site because Spelthorne Council has a general customer number which is the first point of contact for the public. The staff are highly trained and can answer a majority of the enquiries. If they cannot answer your query they will put you through to the relevant department.
The website is not detailed enough about the prices for the Leisure Centre – needs dedicated website for the Leisure Centre.	Information for both Spelthorne and Sunbury Leisure Centres can be found on our leisure pages. Leisure facilities are provided by SLM and they are currently in the process of updating their website with information about the Leisure Centres. Once this has been completed our site will be updated with a direct link through to the relevant areas.
Looking for a map of Spelthorne showing boundaries	A clickable map is available on the homepage of our site in the bottom left hand corner. If you click on this map it opens another map showing where Spelthorne is in relation to neighbouring districts.
Lack of maps on site	We have received a few comments about the lack of maps on our site. We do try to provide links or images of maps where we can, and plans to provide an interactive mapping service are in progress. Ward boundary maps can be found under Your Council/Electoral Services/Elections area of this website.
Could not find the address / contact details of the Council Offices	We have tried to provide the key information on the homepage in the bottom right hand corner. There are direct links for contact us, directions, history, opening hours and suggestions/complaints. This information is also available under the Your Council area of the website.
I am trying to find out what is going on in Spelthorne	We have provided an events calendar on the homepage of our website. We include all the events that are sent to us for the public notice boards and the committee meetings.
Map of where my nearest church is	Towards the top of the home page of our site we have some wording that says "Providing quality services to the people of Ashford, Charlton etc". Each one of these areas links to a page providing information specifically for that area ie doctors, rubbish collection days, schools and churches. The churches link goes to Upmystreet.com which also has a map showing the location of the churches.
You need a location map showing where the recycling sites are	This area has been updated to include a link to the Recycle Now website which provides a postcode searchable database and a map showing where all the recycling banks are located.
Complaints regarding the planning system	There have been complaints that the planning public access system (where you can view and comment on planning applications) is frequently not working, maps are not scanned properly and reports are not available. We have had a few problems with the site and these issues are being resolved. Please accept our apologies. Occasionally planned maintenance or upgrades to the site need to be done and we will try and let you know when this happens.
Comments on the planning web pages	We have received comments that the planning pages are not built from a customer perspective and need another look. We have also had comments that information is difficult to find. We aim to review all of the planning pages by December and deal with these problems.
The use of Firefox and other browsers with Planning Public Access	The site has been optimized for Microsoft Internet Explorer (minimum 5.5). Users of Firefox and Netscape, have experienced compatibility issues while trying to browse the Planning Public Access site. We have raised this issue with the supplier of the system and hope that this will be rectified in the near future. In meantime, please accept our apologies for any difficulty.
Rubbish and recycling dates not available	The rubbish and recycling pages have been updated to include information about when the blue box scheme and refuse are collected for each road in Spelthorne. (Link to refuse collection days) (Link to kebside collection (recycling) dates)

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