I’m delighted to be able to present these results to the residents of Stratford on Avon, the Town and District Council and the Town’s businesses. As most people will know I am an ardent believer in evidence based strategy and I hope that the results of this survey will help decision makers to make informed judgements on the issues that will affect the town both today and in the future. You can download the full results and report here. There are a lot of very interesting results, some of which will I’m sure be of no surprise to regular Herald readers and others that will be. Perhaps the most gratifying results from the survey is that in the main residents and visitors think that Stratford is a fantastic place, on a scale of 1-100 the average score for residents is 75 and for visitors 81, whilst an amazing one third of visitors say that Stratford doesn’t have a worst feature. Obviously this doesn’t mean we should be complacent, we all know there are some issues but they are heartening results, particularly given the way the town is often reported. I suspect that the challenge is that we all expect so much from Stratford because it is after all Stratford Upon Avon and as elected officials it is our job to deliver on those expectations not to rest on our laurels. Residents’ view When looking at how residents rate the town’s amenities there are a lot of familiar results, it will be of no surprise to anyone that parking is rated badly. Hopefully the agreed concessions from April will help, but there’s clearly more work to be done on communicating the changes that have already been made. There are also some useful results for policy makers and businesses in relation to amenities. Views on Leisure facilities are lukewarm, whilst it appears that Stratford is a better place to be if you are hungry than if you need a new outfit, with residents seeing it as better for food and significantly better for eating out than for shopping for clothes. Do we therefore need to look at the retail mix within the town? Perhaps given the amount of coverage that the Bancroft has received since its redevelopment some will be surprised to see that half of all of residents either agree or strongly agree that “redevelopment of the Bancroft Gardens and surrounding areas is excellent”. Support for pedestrianisation is also very high as is support for banning coaches and lorries, as these changes are also strongly supported by visitors then if we can get them off the ground then these changes will perhaps be a win-win. The best and worst features of Stratford also throw up some interesting results, with most people suggesting that it is the lifestyle and “feel” of the place that is Stratford’s best feature rather than anything else. The challenge here is clear, how do we retain these lifestyle and “feel” factors whilst developing the Stratford of the future and fixing those issues raised elsewhere in the survey. It won’t be easy, but it is vital to the future success of the town. Given the lack of affordable housing in the district as a whole it’s also not surprising that people agree strongly that rents and house prices are too high. This is a well known problem, but the obvious answer of increasing supply through development has yet to gain support, particularly around the town. Moving forward this is a big challenge for the Council, how can it deliver new houses in locations and in such a way that is acceptable for residents and will deliver what they want. Forthcoming changes to the planning system will help and this is where local residents need to step up and take part in the new bottom-up process. Visitors’ view Since the collapse of Shakespeare Country the Council has put a lot of effort into trying to get the tourism offering right in the town, focusing on UK based visitors initially. It would appear that the survey supports this decision with 76% of visitors being from the UK, however the next largest group of visitors is from Asia. This is a very interesting result, and a challenge for our businesses and tourism services. Whilst I’m sure they can all easily engage with an American visitor or a French or German one how many of them can support a non English speaking tourist from China, or Japan? Some may also be surprised that despite its move to Henley Street visitors find tourist information easy to find. Visitors also believe that there are lots of interesting things to see and do, showing that the Council’s “more than just Shakespeare” efforts are paying off. The survey also tells us that nearly 50% of visitors will stay for a full day and that in the main visitors are families or couples, again providing businesses with useful targeting information. It’s not all good news for businesses though, particularly for the town’s retailers as a majority of visitors say that they will not be spending lots of money in our shops. This is interesting as it suggests that Stratford is more of a leisure destination, even in the Autumn, than one that visitors expect to shop in. Although the Shakespeare experience is a real draw for visitors and particularly so with international tourists, it’s interesting to see that it is actually the rounded experience of Stratford that attracts people with 55% of visitors coming because it is a “good day out”. These visitors also reflect the wider resident view that the best thing about Stratford is the “feel of the place” rather than anything else. As well as rating the town highly overall visitors also seem to have a mainly positive view across the board, with 93% of visitors agreeing that the town is clean and tidy and 98% that it is safe. These numbers are unprecedented. Interestingly 66% of visitors disagreed that the town is too crowded and although it wasn’t carried out on a summer weekend it perhaps reflects how busy tourists expect the town to be given itsinternational stature. Conclusion As I said in my opening the most heartening thing about this survey is that people think that Stratford is a great place to live and visit. Beneath this though there are some issues that need to be resolved and other issues that we now know can be put to bed. This will hopefully be the first of many such surveys in the future and I hope that everyone from the public, private and even the voluntary sector can use it to help improve Stratford for the future