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Landscaping: survey and improvements

Consultation with our residents is very important to the Association. Checking that residents are happy with what we are doing is essential and we are constantly trying to improve all aspects of the services that we provide.

We are very pleased that generally, we can report a very high level of satisfaction with our services, as is demonstrated by the Residents Satisfaction Survey on page 5. However, there has, in the recent past, been a shortfall in the levels of satisfaction in the area of grounds maintenance and we are now working on raising the service levels.

Previous surveys have demonstrated that there were low levels of satisfaction with landscape maintenance. On closer inspection, it was clear that issues around shrub maintenance and general appearance of sites were of concern. There was also concern over the perceived value for money from the service provided.

During the last year, the Association has been actively investigating ways in which to improve grounds maintenance. This began with the initial separation of grass cutting from shrub maintenance and the introduction of a specialist horticulturist to advise on the most appropriate course of action on selected sites.

A consultation exercise with residents was carried out on the sites with particularly low levels of satisfaction to establish ways in which the landscaping could be improved. Together with the consultant horticulturist proposals were developed and Sones Landscaping carried out the schemes.

The results of the most recent satisfaction surveys are encouraging with an improvement from 65% in 2005/06 to 74% in 2007. However, the Association acknowledges that there are still schemes where satisfaction levels are low and improvement works have not delivered results. Efforts will be made to bring about improvements over the next few months.