Physical Activity, Libraries, Museums, Cultural Activities and Gypsy/Traveller Accommodation 38th Viewpoint Survey Final Report 5th December 2014 Contents Page Summary of Key Findings 1.0 Background, Objectives and Methodology 1 2.0 Respondent Profile 3 3.0 Physical Activity 6 4.0 Libraries 35 5.0 Museums and Other Cultural Activities 45 6.0 Gypsy / Traveller Accommodation 55 APPENDICES (U NDER SEPARATE COVER ) 1.0 Survey Questionnaire 2.0 Detailed Data Tables 3.0 Results Breakdown by Electoral Ward 4.0 Listing of Open Ended Responses SUMMARY OF KEY FINDINGS PHYSICAL ACTIVITY 50% of respondents indicate that they do at least 2.5 hours of moderate and / or vigorous physical activity per week (this is down from 53% in the 2012 Viewpoint survey but compares to 39% for Scotland as a whole in the 2011 Scottish Health Survey, the most recent directly comparable survey). 41% of respondents indicate that they undertook at least 30 minutes of moderate and / or vigorous physical exercise on at least five days within the previous week, down from 46% in 2012. Walking briskly (72%) and heavy gardening (37%) continue to be the most common types of physical activity in which participants take part. The most common reasons cited for taking exercise are the desire to lead a healthy lifestyle (cited by 70% of respondents in 2014) and enjoyment of physical activities (52%); 29% of respondents also indicated that they took exercise as part of a weight control strategy. More than half of respondents (51%) do not think that they take enough physical exercise. Amongst those that accumulated no moderate and / or vigorous physical activity over the previous 7 day period, 36% indicated that they were not able to do enough exercise due to ill health or a similar reason (13% of those that had accumulated no moderate and / or vigorous physical activity still felt that they took enough exercise). Those that undertook less than 2.5 hours of moderate and / or vigorous physical activity in the previous 7 day period were most likely to believe that they did not take as much exercise as they should (65% of people in this category now consider this to be the case). A significant proportion of respondents (37%, up from 22% in 2012) indicated that they would like to change the amount of physical activity that they undertake but had yet to do anything about it; 81% of those that are thinking of changing the amount of physical activity that they do but have yet to do anything about it do not think they take as much exercise as they should. 14% of respondents indicated that the Commonwealth Games had influenced how much physical activity they would like to undertake but only 5% indicated that it had influenced how much physical activity they actually undertook. The most common “facility” within Aberdeenshire that people indicated they used for physical activity was the natural environment (e.g. hills, sea) with 40% of respondents indicating usage of this at least fortnightly over the past 12 months. The second most common type of facility used for physical activity was town / village parks (28% indicating that they had used these at least fortnightly over the past 12 months). PHYSICAL ACTIVITY (CONTINUED ) Variable ratings are apparent as to the availability of certain facilities for physical activity within Aberdeenshire. 90% of those that express a view give positive ratings to the natural environment, 90% to golf courses, 84% to country parks, 82% to town / village parks and 77% to playing fields / football pitches. Positive ratings for the availability of Council sports / leisure centres (69%) and Council swimming pools (68%) are slightly lower and ratings for the availability of a variety of private facilities are lower still (e.g. positive ratings for the availability of private sports / leisure centres are now 58%, for ski centres they are 54% and for private swimming pools they are 39%). There are generally good ratings for the quality of facilities amongst those that expressed a view. Facilities most likely to be ranked positively in 2014 with respect to quality included the natural environment (94%), country parks (94%), town / village parks (87%) and golf courses (79%). Ratings were only slightly lower for Council sports / leisure facilities (74%), Council swimming pools (74%), private sports / leisure facilities (71%) and playing fields / pitches (69%). There has been a general upwards trend in these positive ratings since 2012, particularly for Council facilities. Usage of town / village parks and country parks remains high at 76% and 72% respectively. 24% of respondents indicate that they use facilities for physical activity outwith Aberdeenshire. Most commonly, these include swimming pools and other leisure facilities (both Council and private) in Aberdeen but can include activities across Scotland. Availability and quality of facilities as well as participation alongside friends / team mates are the main drivers for this. Only 4% of respondents were members of Active Aberdeenshire (up from 3% in 2012) and a further 37% (up from 35% in 2012) were aware but not members. The factors that non- members most commonly say would encourage them to become a member of Active Aberdeenshire were an affordable membership price (cited by 45% of respondents), access to Aberdeenshire tourist attractions (34%) and access to non Council-owned leisure facilities (30%); these findings were very similar to those of the 2012 survey. LIBRARIES A significant proportion of panel members (59%, though down from 64% in 2011) indicate that they are a member of Aberdeenshire Libraries and the profile of membership is broadly reflective of the demographic profile of Aberdeenshire. Library members continue to be polarised between a significant proportion that have used the service recently (within the past month) and almost as significant a proportion that have not used the service for more than a year. LIBRARIES (CONTINUED ) Awareness of the very broad range of services available through Aberdeenshire Library Services is limited in some cases. There is majority awareness of children’s activities and events (55%) and free wi-fi (53%) but only a minority (sometimes quite a small minority) are aware of the range of other services. The library services that respondents were most likely to express an interest in were local studies and family history resources (23%), author visits (19%), online reservation of books and CDs (14%) and free wi-fi (13%). 54% of respondents expressed an interest in at least one of the list of services presented to them as part of the survey. The factors that deter library usage are most commonly a matter of individual circumstance or choice. The perceived deterrents that relate to the library service specifically are fairly limited and include opening hours (mentioned by 18% of respondents) and not knowing enough about the library service (10%). Ratings for various aspects of the library service remain positive but have declined slightly since 2011, particularly in relation to range of lending material and opening hours. Overall, satisfaction amongst all respondents has declined from 85% to 75% and amongst library members from 88% to 81%. 60% of survey respondents overall and 83% of library members say that they would recommend Aberdeenshire’s library service to friends and relatives. MUSEUMS AND OTHER CULTURAL ACTIVITIES The most common museums visited were: Grampian Transport Museum, Alford (visited by 18% of respondents in the past year and 66% of respondents ever), Aberdeenshire Farming Museum, Aden Country Park (visited by 17% of respondents in the past year and 57% of respondents ever), Duff House, Banff (visited by 10% of respondents in the past year and 44% of respondents ever) and the Museum of Scottish Lighthouses, Fraserburgh (visited by 11% of respondents in the past year and 40% ever). Lack of awareness is far and away the most common barrier to usage of museums (cited by 67% of respondents that answered this particular question). Overall satisfaction with the various museums varies from 31% to 87%. In most instances where respondents do not express outright satisfaction they give a “neither / nor” response. Levels of outright dissatisfaction are very small. It should be noted that satisfaction levels are high at each of the four most commonly used facilities as described (varying between 80% and 87%). Amongst users, overall satisfaction with Aberdeenshire museums is 66%. Whilst there is limited outright dissatisfaction, a high proportion of users (32%) give a “neither / nor” response and 47% indicate that they are “quite satisfied” with only 19% indicating that they are “very satisfied”. MUSEUMS AND OTHER CULTURAL ACTIVITIES (CONTINUED ) Respondents felt that the exhibits a some of the more commonly used museums were of particular interest. They particularly valued the historical and heritage dimensions of the museums along with the input from staff, particularly local staff. A very wide and diverse set of improvement suggestions are made but these most commonly relate to awareness of what is on offer. Some specific comments about the quality of exhibits at particular facilities were also put forward. 10% of respondents indicated that they or a member of their household had taken part in an arts project over the past two years or so, though respondents defined this term fairly loosely. A very high level of satisfaction (90%) was recorded amongst those that had taken part in such projects. Overall, 41% of respondents indicated that at least someone in the household would be interested in such projects (compared to only 10% that indicated previous participation). The theme of awareness is very apparent in terms of the things that would encourage greater participation in arts and cultural activities generally. Other, less common, issues relate to issues such as accessibility, opening times, cost and the quality and types of activities.