Public services 'damaged by austerity drive' A survey of 1,031 people, commissioned by the BBC and carried out by ICM, found that four in ten people think that the quality of public services has got worse. However, despite funding cuts many people think that services such as bin collections, parks and libraries, schools and bus services have improved. Sir Merrick Cockell, chairman of the Local Government Association, said: "It is unsurprising that the cracks are starting to appear in public satisfaction around the state of our roads and elderly care. A shortage of funding and increasing demand is making it impossible to maintain adult social care services at current levels let alone to try and raise standards of care while our roads are crumbling under a £10.5bn repair backlog caused by decades of underinvestment. Unless local government finance is put on a sustainable footing, these figures will only head in one direction as the noticeable impact of cuts to services becomes a reality for all residents. However Professor Tony Travers, of the London School of Economics, said that the results are likely to be used by the Treasury as evidence that cuts do not necessarily lead to poorer services. "Ministers are likely to use this poll to argue for further cuts," he says.