Polls
Sarah regularly does automated phone surveys to find out what a wide range of constituents think about local issues. Of course, she is also keen to talk with people one-to-one and holds regular community meetings, speaks to people on the telephone and the doorstep . But doing automated phone surveys in addition to that outreach can be a good way of helping Sarah represent you by finding out quickly what lots of people in Portsmouth North think.
(Important note – results are an indicator of what the residents who answered think, but may not always be reflective of public opinion, especially when smaller numbers of people were called. This is only one of many ways Sarah solicits views from her constituents.)
Children's play areas
Portsmouth is one of 20 areas in the UK getting £2 million from the Labour government to build new play areas and improve existing ones. Sarah has been consulting with residents in Portsmouth North to get views on where the money should be spent. In a letter to parents of primary school children, she wrote "I am anxious to make sure that this money is spent fairly across Portsmouth (not just in the south of Portsmouth), and that parents are involved in deciding how the money is spent. So I have organised a series of meetings across my constituency (Portsmouth North) and I'm inviting you to have your say".
After meeting with parents and receiving more feedback by e-mail, Sarah had lots of ideas about where the money could be spent in Portsmouth, and wanted to see which ideas best reflected public opinion in each area of Portsmouth North. 1795 households were contacted by voice message with a series of questions to answer, and 320 answered them (a response rate of 17.8%).
61.3% of respondents would like money spent on building new play facilities in the area where they live
72.3% of respondents would like money spent on improving existing facilities in the area where they live
21.9% of respondents indicated a strong preference for spending money on building new facilities as opposed to improving existing facilities
32.9% of respondents indicated a strong preference for spending money on improving existing facilities as opposed to building new facilities
The area where the highest percentage of people completed the survey was Poet's Corner in Paulsgrove, suggesting play areas is an issue people there feel particularly strongly about. 26.0% of people there answered the questions, compared to an overall rate of 17.8%. Poet's Corner also had the joint highest (together with Buckland) percentage of people who said money should be spent in the area where they live, with 77.8% of respondents. However, people who thought money should be spent in Buckland were much more likely to answer that it should be spent on improving existing facilities, and people from Poet's Corner were more likely to think money should be spent on new facilities.
Sarah also asked people to rate particular ideas residents had given her for new play areas / improving existing facilities on a scale from one to five (residents were only asked about the ideas for their area, so the survey didn't take hours to take part in!). The 5 most popular ideas were:
Doing up the tennis courts in Drayton Park or replacing them with a fenced in football or basketball area (an average score of 4.1 out of 5)
More facilities in the park at the back of Highbury College accessed from Tudor Crescent in Cosham (an average score of 3.9 out of 5)
Expanding the play area at Cobden Park in Baffins (an average score of 3.9 out of 5)
Improving the play facilities at the end of Matapan Road in Hilsea (an average score of 3.8 out of 5)
Using the vacant land at the end of Browning Avenue to build a new play area (an average score of 3.6 out of 5)
Sarah will be investigating the feasibility of these ideas and campaign for the most promising ideas with public support. She will also share this information in more detail with the council when they get round to consulting on these issues, and also make sure they understand how strongly people feel about maintaining existing facilities properly, for example at Buckland.
A big thank you to everyone who took part! If you want to give more detailed feedback you can e-mail Sarah at mccarthyfrys@parliament.uk
Previous polls
New football stadium
92 of 410 residents called in Paulsgrove answered questions about the proposal to build a new football stadium on Horsea Island (a response rate of 22.4%).
Question 1 was: Do you think the stadium should be built at Horsea Island?
85.9% of respondents answered "Yes".
14.1% of respondents answered "No".
Question 2 was: What is your biggest concern about the building of the new stadium?
14.1% of respondents answered "Anti-social behaviour".
34.1% of respondents answered "Traffic".
51.1% of respondents answered "No serious concerns".
Question 3 was: "If the plans go ahead, they could involve the construction of at least 1,500 new homes in the area. Labour is campaigning to make sure at least 30% of these homes are socially affordable. This has been the rule with previous developments. Do you agree that at least 30% of new homes should be socially affordable?"
80.2% of respondents answered "Yes".
19.8% of respondents answered "No".
Question 4 was: "I want to know if you think 30% is the right percentage of social housing to campaign for, or if you think it should be more. What percentage of homes in any new development do you think should be social housing?"
21.0% of respondents answered "Less than 30%".
21.0% of respondents answered "30%".
14.8% of respondents answered "40%".
32.1% of respondents answered "50%".
11.1% of respondents answered "More than 50%".
Question 5 was: If the plans go ahead there is a good chance of added investment in our area. What is your number one priority for investment?
32.9% of respondents answered "A new railway station".
45.6% of respondents answered "Better roads and pavements".
17.7% of respondents answered "Improved street lighting".
3.8% of respondents answered "Hanging baskets and tidying up green areas".
Polls were also carried out for North End about how new money for improving North End shopping centres should be spent, and about the Tipner redevelopment. In both cases the data was used as a complement to canvassing and Sarah's mailbag – the samples were far too small to guarantee accuracy. In both cases the polling confirmed what Sarah had already heard from residents.
| 
