The Shropshire Survey results - Your Services

They believe they are mostly getting good or fair value for their council tax, make a big effort to recycle and know the name of their local MP or councillor.

But more than a third rarely use buses or trains, despite the cost of petrol making them think twice about using their car.

That, in a nutshell, is the typical Shropshire Star reader who responded to day one of our great county survey.

We had more than 7,500 responses, and the results make for an interesting sketch of opinion on a range of subjects.

We asked if people were, in general, happy with their council tax bill, and almost seventy per cent said they believed they were getting either fair or good value.

Naturally, the leaders of Shropshire's two main authorities are delighted.

Councillor Keith Barrow, leader of Shropshire Council, said: "It's really encouraging to see that the majority of people are happy with their council and feel they get good value for money for their council tax.

"We are in the midst of the toughest economic situation for a generation, and are having to shave millions of pounds from our budgets, so it's good to know we are keeping to our pledge to protect essential frontline services while keeping council tax low."

His comments were echoed by Councillor Kuldip Sahota, leader of Telford & Wrekin Council.

He said: "Telford & Wrekin has maintained a low council tax for many years which is still one of the lowest in the region and this is a testament to the efficient way in which we run our services.

"We are always looking to improve and find more efficiencies but, in the context of unprecedented Government cuts, it is pleasing to hear that most people think council tax rates in Telford & Wrekin are good or fair."

Daniel Kawczynski, MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham, added: "The majority of people see the value they get from local council services.

"From a political perspective that's a very important thing.

"The Government has cut funding to Shropshire, but Shirehall still manages to provide very good services despite having a reduced budget, and I think that's a very, very important thing to latch on to."

And when it comes to politics, the majority of Shropshire Star readers (83 per cent) who responded said they always voted in local or national polls, with only 8.3 per cent saying they never bothered.

While 79.1 per cent of respondents said it was important to vote, the remainder said either no party reflected their views, or they simply couldn't see the point of going to the ballot box.

More than two-thirds of participants said they knew the name of their local councillor, although only a third of those have ever needed to contact them.

And while we are told that MPs have a fairly low reputation, 85 per cent of people know the name of their elected representative and the majority – 58 per cent – think they do a good, fair or excellent job.

But, around 22 per cent thought their MP poor or very poor, with a further 18.8 per cent admitting that they were not sure of their performance.

Mr Kawczynski said he was pleased that the majority of people were aware of their local MP and councillor, and that the majority opinion was 'favourable'.

"I think all five of Shropshire's MPs work very well across party lines to campaign on Shropshire issues," he added.

But, as David Wright, MP for Telford, noted: "People who vote are people who are more likely to respond to surveys.

"My guess is there are still a large number of people out there who are disconnected from politics and local affairs and it's our job to try to inspire them to reconnect," he added.

Health is another important county issue. We asked for your experience of using accident and emergency services, only to learn that about a third of our respondents have never had to.

Of those that have needed treatment at A&E, the majority say they were seen within three hours, with just over 10 per cent saying they had their case dealt with in 60 minutes or less.

But 12.2 per cent said they had waited for longer than four hours, above the Government's target.

Graeme Mitchell, Associate Director of Quality & Patient Experience at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust, said: "We regret that at times some of our patients have to wait longer than they should in our A&E Department, and this is something we are committed to tackling.

"We would like to sincerely apologise for this as our aim is to provide the right care in the right place at the right time – all of the time.

"We would also like to thank all of the staff in our hospitals for their hard work, especially at times when we are facing a high demand for our services."

The issue of hospital parking charges was also raised. At present it costs £2.00 to park at the Princess Royal, Royal Shrewsbury and Oswestry Orthopaedic Hospitals, and some 83 per cent of people thought that was too much.

However, 15 per cent of respondents thought the charges were about right, and 0.7 per cent thought they were too low.

Shrewsbury MP Mr Kawczynski is campaigning to have parking charges dropped at hospitals, and wants to look at ways that the health service could recoup the £300 million he says they bring in.

"I have had huge number of complaints about this," he said, adding that he had personally experienced the 'frustration' of paying to park while visiting.

The MP has called for a parliamentary debate on the issue.

But John Grinnell, Director of Finance at The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Oswestry, said: "We re-invest the monies raised in maintaining, staffing and improving car parking and keeping the car parks secure for patients and staff.

"We have drop-off points outside the main entrance and Menzie's Day Case Unit, where patients can stay for 20 minutes without charge."

And Steve Peak, Transformation Director at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, added: "The income we receive from car parking contributes towards both the costs of providing and maintaining our car parks and supporting hospital services.

"If we didn't charge for car parking we would have to find this money from elsewhere, which would inevitably impact on the clinical services we provide.

"We offer a wide range of concessions to support people on low incomes or people who are on treatment plans that require regular visits to hospital."

Read more coverage of the first day of survey results in today's Shropshire Star and come back tomorrow for the results of day two on your area.