Mapping 'Liveability' in Bristol

INTRODUCTION:

To understand residents' perception of liveability in their local neighbourhood, Bristol City Council used their established household survey of 'Quality of Life' to generate a combined indicator of 'liveability'.

This information was mapped to provide clear, timely and neighbourhood-specific evidence for the monitoring, review and evaluation of the city's Neighbourhood Renewal (NR) 'liveability' floor target and to guide the work of Bristol's Local Strategic Partnership (The Bristol Partnership).

BACKGROUND:

AIMS:

The creation of a new national Neighbourhood Renewal (NR) floor target on 'liveability' prompted the need to identify indicators that provide a meaningful measurement of liveability at a small area 'neighbourhood' level over time.

Bristol identified its annual Quality of Life survey as the most effective source of data appropriate for measuring progress towards the new NR liveability floor target.

The liveability indicators had to be compatible with national guidelines and indicators of liveability, and provide a measure over time of how initiatives and funding were having an impact.

Specifically, the indicators needed to aid understanding of the impact and effectiveness of funding and support towards the Bristol Partnership's Environmental Delivery Group outcome of 'increasing the number of respondents who were satisfied with the quality of their local environment by 1% each year across the city and by 2% in NR areas'.

CHALLENGES:

Although the Quality of Life survey had been carried out since 2001 and provided a rich source of historical data, the range of questions asked were too wide for all to be used to assess 'liveability'. Bristol City Council's Environment Quality Team who were responsible for the work, looked at the 50 questions contained in the survey questionnaire and identified 8 questions, which were considered most relevant to liveability.

Sarah McMahon who lead the team felt the three main challenges were:

1. Aggregating the indicators
2. Mapping the data
3. Ensuring sample sizes were large enough at neighbourhood level to be representative and to ensure individual questions didn't skew the whole indicator at this level.

HISTORY:

The 'Quality of Life in Bristol' survey is a household survey which has been run annually for 5 years by Bristol City Council's Environmental Quality team to provide an indication of people's satisfaction or concerns about their local neighbourhood. Each year around 3,500 people have responded to questions about their perceptions and the data has then been collated with various other datasets on employment, crime, educational achievement and health and published in the annual report 'Indicators of quality of life in Bristol'. Previous year's reports and further details are available at: www.bristol-city.gov.uk/qualityoflife.

The survey is one of the best examples of its kind in the UK and has become a key source of intelligence for citywide planning among numerous agencies and organisations in public, community and voluntary sectors. It is increasingly used for reviewing and evaluating the work of the Bristol Partnership and the delivery of NR through its incorporation into the State of the Neighbourhoods (SON) database enabling identification of the inequalities gap between NR and Non-NR areas across Bristol.

RESEARCH:

The Quality of Life (QoL) survey has historically had a response rate of around 3,500 questionnaires (from around 15,000 sent out to random addresses across the city).

In 2005 the decision was taken to boost the sample to ensure around 7,000 responses (particularly in NR areas where response rates were lower) in order to provided robust liveability data at neighbourhood level. 7,000 responses represented a sample of around 1.75% of the Bristol population.

In past surveys, the sample size provided robust data at all but the lowest (neighbourhood) level where caution had to be exercised due to smaller numbers of respondents. The boosted sample size diminished this problem significantly.

PROFILES OF PEOPLE INVOLVED:

Bristol City Council's Environmental Quality Unit, led by Sarah McMahon, developed the Quality of Life Survey and liveability indicator. Sarah's background is in environmental health as are those of her colleagues involved in the work. Sarah is also lead officer for the Bristol Partnership's Environment Delivery Group and consequently had a clear understanding of what evidence would be most useful to inform the Partnership's work. Steve Crawshaw (Senior Scientific Officer) developed the mapping system with Phil Chan, (Scientific Officer) undertaking much of the statistical analysis required.

Strong competencies in environmental health, social research, statistics, and the use of Geographical Information System (GIS), along with an understanding of the needs and workings of the Local Strategic Partnership provided the combined skills and knowledge within the team for this project to be successful.

CASE STUDY DETAIL:

The Quality of Life Survey is undertaken each year and is available both on-line and in a printed version (www.bristol-city.gov.uk/qualityoflife). The questionnaire asks about the quality of neighbourhoods and sustainability of lifestyles and has been annually refined through consultation with local partners. The survey looks at crime, health, economy and general perceptions so it was ideally suited to look at liveability and people's satisfaction with their local environment.

Data from the 2003/2004 survey was combined to create a sample size of around 7,000 (a size hoped to be replicated annually in future surveys). The eight questions/statements identified as measuring 'liveability' were:

1. No problem from cleanliness relating to street litter.
2. No problem from cleanliness relating to graffiti.
3. No problem from cleanliness relating to dog fouling.
4. No problem from cleanliness relating to air quality and traffic pollution.
5. No problem from cleanliness relating to environmental noise.
6. No problem from cleanliness relating to state of the local river/stream.
7. Satisfied with attractiveness of appearance of streets & public spaces.
8. Satisfied with attractiveness of quality of parks and green spaces.

The team and the Environment Delivery Group decided how the different items from the survey would be weighted based on their own and the delivery partners expert knowledge.

Once weighting was agreed, survey data was combined and a liveability score calculated for each of the 252 areas in Bristol known as Lower Level Super Output Areas (LSOAs) - a geography established by the Office for National Statistics.

As each questionnaire represents an individual/household's response, the survey data could effectively be reported at postcode level. Reporting data at the LSOA level provided sufficient detail at a neighbourhood level (LSOAs are areas where 1,500-2,000 people live) whilst not compromising the confidentiality of individual respondent's answers to survey questions.

Once scores were calculated for each LSOA, the data was mapped using a Geographical Information System (GIS) and graded in colour to enable easy comparison between different neighbourhoods' perception of liveability (see image). The availability of previous years' data enabled the comparison of change in over time - crucial evidence to assess the impact of initiatives working to improve liveability in specific areas such as those targeted by NR.

The weighted liveability scores were checked to ensure they remained sensitive enough to measure any significant changes in each individual question/statement response.

RESULTS:

A major benefit at a local level has been the ability for people to compare their areas against the wider Bristol picture. Local NR managers and community groups have used the mapping system to check their liveability scores. The mapping system has also been able to provide the evidence required to support funding applications.

The project has been well received by the Bristol Partnership and local groups, providing easily understood data through the mapping system. The sensitivity of the indicators has also enabled small local projects to effectively assess their impact in improving liveability scores and narrowing the inequalities gap. As further years' data are produced the indicator will become invaluable for monitoring impact and change in liveability at the neighbourhood level.

CONCLUSIONS:

This is an ongoing process as new ways are found to use the data from the existing survey. Sarah McMahon sees the project as still being at an early stage and under development. It has demonstrated widespread usefulness in efforts to improve liveability across Bristol and is likely to be the key tool in tracking the liveability component of Bristol's Local Area Agreement (LAA).

DO'S AND DON'TS:

• Do consider sample sizes (particularly at the neighbourhood level)
• Do involve and explain to partners the benefits of the new datasets
• Do explain the problems of the range of confidence the data can provide
• Don't show trends on samples with small sample sizes.

FIND OUT MORE:

Sarah McMahon
Environmental Quality Manager
Bristol City Council
0117 922 3306
sarah_mcmahon@bristol-city.gov.uk