Argyll & Bute in Scottish Council comparisons

We missed this 6 months ago when The Times published a set of tables comparing the performances of Scottish local authorities across a wide range of categories and from figures supplied by the Councils themselves.

Who says statistics are boring? The simple figures make it evident that there has been some sort of crisis in the Planning Department at Shetland Islands Council.

Three years ago, in 2005/06 it was processing 67.7% of planning applications within 2 months. One year later, in 2006/07, this figure was down to 39.5% and last year, 2007./08, it had dropped to 23.7%. In the parallel category of the percentage of applications for house alterations dealt with in 2 months, in 2005/06 it was processing 71.8% within the due time. A year later, in 2006/07 it was still performing well at 70.9% but last year, 2007/08, this had fallen through the floor to 24.2%.

This is not Argyll’s story but there is clearly a story there, flagged up by straightforward figures. Statistics carry their own narrative but they need interpretation informed on and sensitive to context.

Headline scores

Argyll and Bute emerges well enough from the Scotland-wide comparisons. It came bottom in road maintenance, with 57.4% of its road network in need of maintenance and repair. No surprises there. (Any comments from Mull?) Aberdeen City came out best with 21,8% of its road network identified as needing some tlc. Highland Council, the biggest local authority area in Scotland with Argyll in second place and with an even more dispersed population, saw 39.2% of its roads as in need of attention.

It came top on food inspections – with 87.3% carried out on time in 2005/06, 99.2% in 2006/07 and 100% in 2007/08.

Reading the figures – response times to noise complaints

It performance on speed of response to complaints on noise was poor but a long way form the worst. Its average response time, in hours, to such complaints was 8 hours in 2006/07, rising steeply to 54 hours in 2007/08. However, this is an example of where interpretation matters. Largely rural areas, like Argyll & Bute, will have fewer noise complaints in comparison with urban areas and the sheer distances to be travelled to investigate will be much bigger.

So one would expect response times to be long in rural areas and much quicker in urban ones. This is exemplified in the statistics. Shetland Islands has the worst response times to noise complaints, taking 120 hours in 2006/07 and an astronomical 540 hours in 2008/08. In contrast, Ayrshire has the fastest response times in the country in this matter, taking 3 out of the top 5 rankings.

• East Ayrshire responded in 0.7 hours in 2006/07 and in 0.5 hours in 2007/08.
• North Ayrshire took 6 hours in 2006/07 but, within 12 months, got that down to an impressive 0.6 hours in 2007/08.
• South Ayrshire took 1.1 hours in 2006/07 and shaved it to 1 hour in 2007/08.

Argyll’s urban neighbour, West Dunbartonshire, in 3rd place, has maintained a steady 0.6 hours response time over 2006/07 and 2007/08.

Efficient use of Council buildings

Argyll & Bute is sixth from the bottom (of 32) in this category, which examines the proportion of operational council buildings deemed suitable for their use and for the delivery of services. The Council’s is a declining position here, with 67% of its buildings deemed efficient in 2007/07. falling to 64.2% in 2007/078.

Top of the list is Falkirk, with 89.9% buildings efficiency. This is quite predictable in a highly centralised local authority area. Argyll’s is a vastly dispersed territory with complex and slender public transport services, carrying a need to bring local government closer to constituents through a swathe of far flung area offices.

A matter of concern – environmental cleanliness

Of concern is Argyll & Bute’s performance in the environmental cleanliness category – one to which we all, homes and businesses, contribute and cannot justly be held as the Council’s sole responsibility.

Rural areas can be expected to perform well in such categories but Argyll comes in at No 22 in a list of 32, with a fairly stable average of 71% over the past 3 years. Compare that negatively with Perth and Kinross, topping the table at 79% in 2007/08as an area with a major city’s activities included in its figures.

Compare it also with Glasgow City’s performance – coming in not last but 5th from the last, with a city conurbation carrying most of Scotland’s population yet recording a fairly steady score of 68% for environmental cleanliness over the last 3 years. Considering their wildly different circumstances, this score is not distant enough from Argyll’s score of 71%.

Highland Council covers a region broadly comparable with Argyll and has achieved scores of 73%, 71% and 75% respectively over the last 3 years.

The 2006 photograph above, of Argyll & Bute’s HQ at Kilmory Castle in Lochgilphead, is by copyright holder, Patrick Mackie and is reproduced here under the Creative Commons licence.