CRIME-cutting should be Burnley Council's top priority in the new millennium, says a new 1,000-strong panel representing the people of the town.

Results of the first survey of Burnley Citizens' Panel have just been released and show members want the council to make crime reduction its main objective - even if it means increasing council taxes. Finding jobs and investment and protecting the environment were next on the people's priority list.

But reducing poverty, supporting community and voluntary organisations and tackling discrimination were seen as less important objectives.

The survey of a representative 1,000 townspeople called for more money to go into crime-cutting, alongside an acceptance that present high spending on parks, leisure and recreation may have to be cut if there is a drop in funding.

The panel is being asked to fill in questionnaires regularly to throw up a reliable view on what the public thinks about important local issues.

The first survey on council services showed Burnley compared well with other areas, although town hall chiefs admit there is certainly room for improvement.

The panel felt that access to council offices was generally good and it was easy to get to speak to the right person.

But there were complaints about poor parking facilities and in a few cases long queues and unhelpful staff.

The council services were viewed as important by more than 80 per cent of the panel.

Parks and recreation services scored high satisfaction ratings and even one of the least popular services, housing repairs was felt to be satisfactory by over 70 per cent of those replying.

Environmental services such as street cleaning and road maintenance and refuse collection produced the highest level of complaints, but even here, say council mangers, around two thirds were satisfied.

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