Dissatisfied public: 'The depth of disapproval is quite staggering'

Published on Wednesday 23 September 2009 09:17

IF they have any sense, council chiefs will be worried that the public's perception of their performance has slumped dramatically in the past year.

It would be easy to dismiss the findings of the latest satisfaction survey as an inevitable reflection of the way they are perceived to have handled the trams saga. After all, no council could expect to win a popularity contest while such highly disruptive works were in progress.

But the depth of disapproval is quite staggering. While only one in ten people questioned in the Edinburgh Residents Survey called for the scheme to be terminated, the tram works – and the congestion they have created – are largely responsible for creating an impression that the current administration is not managing the city well.

Just more than a third of residents who took part in the survey said they believed the Capital was well run, compared to more than half a year ago. The numbers who said the city was badly managed has almost doubled over the same period.

The problem for the council is that there is little it can do about the main gripe. Although operators TIE insist the trams are largely on budget and on time, many won't believe it until the entire Leith to airport link is up and running.

As most residents appear to agree, it is far too late to pull the plug on the entire scheme and so councillors can only remain committed to delivering something for all the pain. They must just accept, too, that the council's popularity rating is unlikely to improve any time soon – and be aware that it can only plummet further if there are any further delays.

Don't bank on it

AT a time when the banking industry's reputation is not exactly riding high it would be expected that customer satisfaction would be a priority.

But sadly this does not appear to be the case as far as Abbey is concerned.

Last month, the Evening News published an account of how a fraudster was robbing the account of Edinburgh soldier Daniel Lawson while he was overseas fighting the Taleban in Afghanistan. After his driving licence was stolen, more than 1,600 was siphoned out of his account.

After the News intervened Abbey issued an apology and immediately put a block on his account.

So how can it be that a further 500 has been removed – apparently by the same man – from his savings without his knowledge? That is a question Abbey bosses should be seeking an immediate answer to.

Beyond that, they must know that poor service and especially lapses in security will do nothing to help restore public confidence in our banks.