A CLEAN environment is more important to the people of Halton than shopping centres and economic development, according to a survey released this week.

In pursuit of some consensus about a proposed community plan, Halton Council sent out approximately 1500 questionnaires, asking community groups and members of the public what factors they consider most important in quality of life.

Of 700 responses received by the expiry of the six-week-long consultation in late June, almost 50 per cent considered preserving and improving the environment to be important to them.

The council's policy committee heard on Tuesday that, of the people who submitted their concerns, 354 people believed the state of the environment to be more central to quality of life than shopping facilities (259) - hitherto the centrepiece of Halton Council's development strategy.

Surprisingly lower on the list of priorities was job and economic development, with only 277 people considering this one of the top five "quality of life" factors affecting them.

The biggest problems were considered to be safety, law and order and the environment.

Others felt that more money should be directed into facilities for young people.

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