ONTV Annual Report - Report back to Readers Panel June 2025

ONTV Annual Report 

Report back to Readers Panel June 2025

Introduction
Our thanks to the Our North Tyneside Voice (ONTV) Readers Panel for checking the draft ONTV Annual Report. We are so pleased with the response. The amount of time and thought you put into reviewing it, and the detail of your feedback, was excellent. Your engagement has improved the report and confirmed the value of the Panel.

Your Feedback
54.5% of respondents spotted errors in grammar, typing, and spelling
 You identified issues such as grammar, missing words, punctuation, typeface, and inconsistencies. We have corrected these, although we cannot amend the examples taken from the website relating to our mapping and ideas tools. These were submitted by residents and reflect their original wording.

81.8% of respondents thought the report was easy to understand
 This is a positive outcome, but we apologise for the use of acronyms and inaccessible language. We believed we had avoided these issues, but we stand corrected. We have made changes, used clearer language, and added extra explanations where needed. We have also ensured that, when something is mentioned for the first time such as ONTV, we use the full name followed by the acronym in brackets. For those who are not fans of the acronym ONTV, we will continue to use it, as writing “Our North Tyneside Voice” repeatedly would make the report significantly longer.

81.8% of respondents thought the report was well organised
 There was some disagreement about whether to include more or fewer diagrams. Generally, diagrams are easier to understand than large blocks of text and help to break up the content. We will continue to use them but remain open to suggestions. As one resident suggested, we have changed the list of ONTV members by ward into a map format. We hope you agree this works better.

72.7% of respondents said the report included all the expected information
 Firstly, thank you to the resident who noticed that the ONTV membership numbers didn’t add up. We had accidentally omitted the “prefer not to say” statistics. These have now been included, and the numbers are correct.

Improvements and Other Comments
 This year’s report focused heavily on our new website and its features, and we fully accept that it would be better to focus more on the impact of resident engagement. Next year, we expect to have more to report on what you have achieved.

Some panel members felt the report was too wordy or too long. In response, we have created an animation summarising the key points, which will be available on the website. We have also shortened some of the longer sentences to make the report easier to read.

You mentioned that some of the diagrams took up too much space and that when it came to the demographic data of our membership it needed percentages comparing it to the general population so that figures made sense. We have included these figures in a table so that it is easy to understand and compare.

Some respondents felt the report favoured tenant engagement. We understand where this impression may have come from, but the intention was for the whole report to relate to resident engagement, except where tenants are specifically mentioned. The tenant section stands out because it has its own Hub. This is due to its statutory nature and the high level of regulation involved. Also, tenants make up 40% of our membership.

Finally, members were concerned that there were no comment boxes in the survey. We’d like to reassure you that these were included and if you disagreed with a statement, a follow-up question appeared so you could share your reasons.

Conclusion
 We have taken note of everything raised by the Readers Panel and, in most cases, made the recommended changes. Next year, we plan to focus more on broader issues, such as the difference residents are making to our services, by developing the ‘You Said, We Did’ hub. We are also confident that working more closely with other council services will increase the amount of engagement we can share with you.

Thank you for your help. Together, we are making a difference.