Almost one in five Amsterdammers avoids going into the city centre because of the rubbish, congestion caused by roadworks and too many tourists, according to a new council survey.

The survey, carried out among 2,365 people who live in the centre, 815 retailers and 3,058 people who live in other parts of the city, is carried out annually.

Almost eight in 10 respondents say that litter is a constant problem in the city centre, up from 2023 when 66% said the streets were getting dirtier.

Some 65% of respondents said the constant roadworks were a daily nuisance, followed by overcrowding through tourism with 64%. Some 39% said long queues at shops, tourist attractions and bars and cafés were a source of constant irritation.

Almost half of the respondents (46%) think the council’s efforts to make the centre more liveable are not effective enough while 40% had no opinion on the matter.

Three-quarters of the respondents said the city centre is an integral part of the city and over eight in 10 go there regularly but the number of people who avoid it is growing too. In 2023, some 10% said they disliked going into the centre because of overcrowding. That has now grown to 17%.

Age influences the way Amsterdammers experience the city centre, the survey shows, with youngsters citing lack of housing and drug users as problems while older people comment on disappearing shops and other changes.

People who live in the centre still feel at home there and rate the experience with an average 7.1 points out of 10. That is almost a point up from the year before, although 62% said the centre is still deteriorating.

City official Sofyan Mbarki who is responsible for the city centre clean-up asked for more patience from locals, telling the Parool the council is continuing to tackle street dealers and is bringing in a licensing system for tourist shops.

The council is also setting up a special fund to give new life to empty buildings, he told the paper.