Only 28% of people living in Glasgow believe the council is addressing the key issues that affect quality of life and the majority don't trust the local authority, according to its own survey.

Residents were asked about the services provided by the council and its arm’s length organisations over the last 12 months.

Just three in ten of the 1000 people polled said they thought it was tackling the main issues while satisfaction with services decreased this year: 40% compared with 48% in 2023.

The most common reasons for this were; poor general maintenance and cleanliness (33%), roads upkeep (29%) and waste and refuse collection and recycling (23%).

(Image: Colin Mearns) A reduction in council services, poor maintenance of parks and green spaces and council tax (too high or poor value for money) was also cited by 10% of respondents.

The council said that in terms of universal services, satisfaction with street lighting (74%), recycling (53%), street cleaning (40%) and pavement maintenance (36%) were broadly in line with the previous survey.

However, satisfaction with refuse collection (56%) and road maintenance (12%) both decreased by eight and four percentage points respectively.

(Image: Glasgow City Council) The Glasgow Life-run services most used by households in the last 12 months were parks (75%) and museums and galleries (53%) and visits to both increased by 6%.

A majority of users were satisfied with the council nurseries (81%), primary (83%) and secondary (71%) schools.

(Image: Glasgow City Council) However, positivity about nurseries and secondary schools has decreased since the previous study (by 14 and seven percentage points respectively).

Culture and Leisure

The vast majority of people were happy with services: 93% for museums and galleries, 89% with libraries and 78% with sports and leisure centres - although this had dropped by four percentage points.

Overall, 70% of users were satisfied with local community centres, down from 81% in 2023.

(Image: Glasgow City Council) Satisfaction with the city's parks remained high (at 82%, compared with 85% in 2023) while around six in ten (58%) were positive about children’s play parks, compared to 64% last year.

Ipsos interviewed a representative sample of 1000 Glasgow residents reflecting the demographic profile of the city with strict quotas on age, gender, working status and ethnicity to ensure the sample was representative.

The council said small base sizes "preclude robust analysis" of trends in satisfaction for social work services.

A majority of users - 70% - were positive about home care (down from 84% in 2023), and 61% were satisfied with social work services, down from 65% in the previous wave.

Transparency

Views about the council’s information provision and engagement with citizens were mixed with just over a third (35%) saying they trusted the council.

The main reason cited for feeling this way were; lack of investment  and poorly managed funds (21%).

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More than half (56%) of respondents said the council was too remote and impersonal (up from 51% in 2023) and 46% said it rarely considered residents’ views when making decisions.

Glasgow 850 and tourism

Only one in ten (9%) respondents were aware that Glasgow was planning to celebrate its 850th anniversary in 2025 with a year-long programme of events.

However, almost two thirds (63%) thought that there would be a positive effect on Glasgow generally but they were less certain about the impacts on their local area.

Asked what type of events they would like, most said food and drink(47%) and architecture and heritage and culture (45%), followed by sport(34%).People said Glasgow's restaurants should feature in the programmePeople said Glasgow's restaurants should feature in the programme (Image: Newsquest)

 

The majority of respondents agreed that Glasgow was a welcoming place for visitors (90%) and a great place to visit (83%) with museums and galleries described as the biggest attraction.

Almost three quarters (72%) of respondents said they were either fairly or very physically active. The main reason for not being able to keep fit was poor health.

Local amenities 

A majority of people said they access to a number of amenities and services in their local neighbourhoods; food shopping (94%), a chemist (82%), GP/health centre (81%), café/restaurant/pub (80%), open space (76%), dentist (71%), primary school (70%), other (non-food) shopping (67%), library (67%) and play park (66%).

Amenities that were least accessible in the local neighbourhood were the respondents’ place of work (28%), skills and employment training (28%) and sports/exercise facilities.

Housing 

Fewer than half (46%) of respondents were aware that Glasgow City Council had declared a housing emergency while 11% of respondents said they personally had been homeless at some point.

A quarter (26%) of respondents said they knew someone who was, or who had at some point been, homeless.

The main reasons why people are homeless, cited by respondents, were addiction and poverty.

A majority of respondents (92%) felt there was quite a lot (53%) or a fair amount (39%) of poverty in Glasgow. Just over half (52%) said their household was living comfortably on its present income.

Personal finances

Among those that were finding it difficult to cope on their present income, most (79%) said they were struggling to pay their bills, while 43% were in arrears with creditors.

A third (32%) said they were missing out on meals. 

Most respondents (at least seven in ten) said they had enough money to keep their home warm in winter (79%).

A majority said their child(ren) had their own winter coat (97%), access to fruit and vegetables every day (93%) and access to outdoor spaces or facilities for play (84%).

A council spokesman said: “Glasgow is one of very few authorities across Scotland to carry out this kind of gold-standard household research – which is absolutely intended to challenge the council and its services.

 

“This year’s survey highlights high levels of civic pride among Glaswegians, which has been consistently reflected in responses to questions about city events over recent years – along with strong satisfaction in parks and open spaces, galleries and museums and education.”

 

The survey's findings will be discussed at a council committee meeting on Wednesday.