Poll: Almost all Sipoo residents oppose shift in municipal border

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A survey conducted by market research company Taloustutkimus indicates that 89 per cent of all Sipoo residents vehemently oppose the possible linkage of parts of Sipoo with Helsinki, while only six per cent of them are in favour of the shift in the municipal that Helsinki has called for.
      However, the share of those in favour grows slightly bigger in the area that the capital wants to absorb. Some nine per cent of those residents who are living in South-Western Sipoo are in favour of the planned annexation, while 78 per cent of them are against the plan.
      On the other hand, young residents are slightly more open to new municipal lines than the citizens in Sipoo on average. A total of ten per cent of all residents aged 18 to 24 were in favour of the boundary changes.
      Taloustutkimus sent a questionnaire to 1,001 Sipoo residents aged 18 to 79 at the beginning of November. The number of "Don't know" answers was exceptionally low, which implies that the residents regarded the issue as important and that they had been carefully thinking about it.
     
The residents were also asked their opinion on the effect of the possible cession of territory on their services. Two out of three respondents believed that the annexation of South-Western Sipoo to Helsinki would weaken the services in Sipoo as a whole.
      One-third of the residents assumed that the services would be degraded even in the area that is up for annexation. Around half of the residents believed that the services would remain the same or would improve in South-Western Sipoo after annexation.
      When questioned about Sipoo's plans to increase the population of the municipality by 40,000 inhabitants by 2025, almost half of the respondents said that their attitude toward the plan was either "rather positive" or "positive", with some 25 per cent of the residents having a negative view on the scheme.
     
According to Sipoo Mayor Markku Luoma and Sipoo Municipal Board Chairman Christel Liljeström (Swedish People's Party), the results of the survey should have some effect on the report that is to be handed to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs on November 30th.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Sipoo denounces Helsinki´s boundary change proposal (21.11.2006)

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