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'London Matters' survey reveals Britain's attitudes towards capital city
05/11/2008
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‘London Matters’ survey reveals Britain’s attitudes towards capital city
• Population immigration is biggest issue for Londoners over next five years
• Almost half of Londoners believed that the capital has a better future with Boris as Mayor
• Pollution considered London’s biggest environmental issue
• Terrorism only considered an issue in London, not rest of Britain
• Big Ben and Houses of Parliament the nation’s favourite London landmark
• 1 in 5 Scots don’t like anything about London!
London, 28th October 2008 – ESRI (UK), the geographic technology specialists, announced today the results of its independent ‘London Matters’ survey, commissioned to mark ESRI’s Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) conference taking place in London; the UK’s largest ever gathering of geographic technology experts.
The study of over 2,200 people across Great Britain reveals not only what Londoners think about their city but
also the views of those living all over the country. Respondents were quizzed on a range of topics including
the challenges London faces plus attitudes towards the capital and where they lived.
When asked what the biggest issue facing London is in the next five years, Londoners themselves said population immigration with 34%, whereas the rest of Britain thought crime was the capital’s biggest challenge (24%). For Londoners, crime was the second biggest issue facing the city (21%), followed by housing (13%).
Terrorism was bottom with only 6% of votes.
Other key findings include 42% of Londoners agreeing that the capital had a better future with Boris Johnson
as Mayor, over a third would like to move house and half said the capital should be treated differently
to other UK cities by the Government; a third believed it already was.
Richard Waite, managing director, ESRI (UK) said, “London is such a dynamic and diverse city and faces so
many challenges across a whole spectrum of topics, including social, economic and geographical issues. With
a new Mayor, the Olympics and so many global trends, both positive and adverse, affecting the city at this
time, we felt it was timely to test the pulse of how the capital is viewed both by residents and the rest
of the British public.”
Biggest environmental concerns:
Pollution was clearly the top environmental issue over the next five years for Londoners, chosen by 42% of
respondents, with loss of green space/parkland second with 36%. Flooding came third with 9%. Outside London
the situation is almost reversed, with loss of green space/parkland of most concern with 41%, flooding second
with 18% and pollution chosen by only 11%.
“We wanted to give our visitors, both local and from overseas, a snapshot of how the capital is viewed
nationally. The survey is a ‘warts and all’ look at the city revealing both positive and negative aspects
of London. However, we are confident that London, in all its rich diversity, remains and will continue to be
one of the greatest capital cities in the world,” continued Waite.
About ESRI (UK)
ESRI develops software which helps organisations make better decisions through the management and analysis of any type of geographic or location-based information – ESRI’s powerful digital mapping brings spatial data to life. The company’s software is running on more than one million desktop computers and thousands of web and enterprise servers, providing the backbone for the world’s mapping and spatial analysis needs.
The world’s fourth largest privately-owned software company, ESRI was founded in 1969 and is the world’s largest company dedicated to creating GIS (geographic information systems) software. Operating in 150 countries with over 4,000 staff, ESRI has more than 350,000 customers and revenues of $660m (2006 fig). UK customers include the Environment Agency, The AA, Ministry of Defence, Ordnance Survey, RSA Group, Manchester Airport, Scottish Power and the Met Police.
For more information please visit www.esriuk.com or www.esri.com
