In March, the Council consulted Scilly's residents and businesses on their experiences of transport and freight services.
Transport Focus, an independent watchdog for transport users, sponsored by the Department for Transport, was commissioned to carry out the consultation in conjunction with BMG Research, a leading independent provider in market research. The analysis of the survey data is now complete and the results have been published. You can view the findings in full on the Transport Focus website.
In total, 335 responses were received from 264 households – achieving a response rate of 19% of the adult population (1732). 20% of households participated in the survey.
Anthony Smith, Chief Executive, Transport Focus said: "Transport Focus is pleased to have been asked by the Council of the Isles of Scilly to help it explore the views of residents and businesses on the transport options which take people between Scilly and the mainland. This important research provides insight for those providing this transport, and particularly for those designing and delivering the ferry services which play an essential role to Scilly."
Councillor Robert Francis, Chairman of the Council of the Isles of Scilly said: "It's incredibly useful to have such a wealth of baseline data to work with when progressing the Council's vessels project and when reflecting on the experience of our residents and businesses more widely. I'd like thank everyone involved in ensuring such a strong response rate, particularly everyone who took the time to submit a response themselves. Discussions with our project partners and government will continue over the summer and we will issue progress updates as soon as any further decisions are made about how we can best deliver for the community."
Councillor Steve Sims, Lead Member for Economy, Tourism and Transport, Council of the Isles of Scilly said: "These results will enable us to better understand the range of impacts that transport and freight services have on the daily lives of every member of our community. Whilst Councillors are used to hearing anecdotal evidence - and of course, share many of these experiences ourselves - we will now be even better placed to speak on behalf of service users when considering these important issues. Particular thanks goes to those who offered feedback early in the consultation process to ensure the survey could capture the full extent of the impact of transport and freight services on island residents and businesses. The results make for very interesting reading, so I encourage you to read them for yourselves and contact me in the event you have any further questions or comments."
