Place survey

The Local Government White Paper 'Strong and Prosperous Communities' emphasises a new focus on improving outcomes for local people and places, rather than on processes, institutions and inputs. It recognises that no single organisation can achieve success on the complex issues of improving public health, reducing poverty, tackling crime or sustainable economic development. The challenges are too complex and the needs often too local for all solutions to be imposed from the centre.

Central to this is the importance of capturing local people's views, experiences and perceptions, so that the solutions for an area can reflect local views and preferences. More than this, it is vital to track people's changing perceptions, as a way of determining whether interventions made in an area result in the right outcomes for local people - ie do people feel happier, healthier, safer?

The Place Survey is a way of achieving this.