A GOVERNMENT survey of West Devon people has shown that levels of satisfaction with the borough council?s services are amongst the highest in the county.

And more people are satisfied with their refuse collection and recycling services than anywhere else in Devon.

The survey was sent out to a cross section of 3,000 residents in West Devon in Autumn 2003 and asked a series of questions about how satisfied they were with the council and services it provides.

The results reveal that 91% said they were satisfied with their refuse collection and 79% with their recycling services and, ranked alongside Devon?s ten other local authorities, West Devon topped the poll.

Residents also ranked the council highly for its street cleanliness with 73 % of people saying they were satisfied with the way the council keeps public land clear of litter and refuse.

Three-quarters of those surveyed said that they were satisfied with the parks and open spaces areas of West Devon and the council also came top in Devon for its handling of complaints.

Sports and leisure facilities came lower down in the ranking compared to other Devon authorities with 53% of residents saying they were satisfied or fairly satisfied with the facilities provided or supported by the council.

Overall, 61% of those surveyed said they were satisfied with the way West Devon Borough Council runs its services. This was the second highest satisfaction rating of ten Devon local authorities.

The results are used by the Government to identify how satisfied people are with their council.

Cllr Dick Eberlie, chairman of the council?s policy and resources committee, said: ?All this is very gratifying. councillors and officers will be genuinely very pleased to feel that their work is widely approved.

?We are all working hard to improve services further without excessive cost. But this is not easy in a district with a small and scattered population living in an area larger than Greater London that includes most of Dartmoor? he said.

?The survey figures really are very encouraging, but we are determined to do better still. For example this autumn, we shall be starting our new green waste kerbside collection service in certain areas of the Borough. Best of all, we shall be opening the brand new Leisure Centre and swimming pool in Okehampton.?