Taxpayers in Hillingdon have revealed their satisfaction with the standard of services their money is providing them.

The results of a poll conducted by MORI between September and November last year have been released and make good reading for Hillingdon Council staff.

Residents' responses are so positive that, when ranked alongside other boroughs, Hillingdon comes out as one of the best in London.

The highest rated service was waste collection with 93 per cent of people showing satisfaction, and this was closely followed by an 83 per cent score for recycling facilities.

The ability to deal with complaints and questions also scored highly with 76 per cent of responses pleased with the service and 77 per cent rating staff on the phones as helpful.

The survey also shows very high levels of satisfaction for services for children and young people and community safety.

Also, following the launch of Hillingdon's library refurbishment programme, more than three-quarters of residents say they are satisfied with the borough's libraries.

Councillor Ray Puddifoot, Leader of the Council said: "These results show that our policy of putting the views of our residents first rather than that of government inspectors is clearly working.

"I am also delighted that in the areas that residents have told us we need to improve, such as providing more facilities for young people and improved leisure facilities, we are already committing millions of pounds of extra money to provide three new youth centres and two state-of-the-art world class leisure facilities."

Residents have also shown strong support for specific initiatives such as older/disabled people's priorities (67 per cent), the council tax freeze (84 per cent) and additional support for victims of crime (85 per cent).

More residents than ever before are feeling well informed about council services (75 per cent) and the survey also confirmed that the environment and safety remain their top priorities.

* The MORI survey used a postal system and the findings were based on the 1,086 forms which were completed and returned.