COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL
GOVERNMENT News Release (077) issued by COI News Distribution
Service on 6 April 2009
Interactive
consultation on planning applications are just one of the
innovative ways ten councils around the country are making it
easier for people to get information about their local council
services, Communities Secretary Hazel Blears announced today
(Monday, 6 April).
A mix of councils in rural and urban areas are sharing £620,000
to pilot schemes that provide better local information for an
estimated one million people, ranging from crime maps in
Gloucestershire to a website for parents and carers of disabled
children in Cambridgeshire.
As well as seeing an improvement in access to services, residents
in the ten pilot areas will benefit from more opportunities to
influence local decision making as councils will have to be more
transparent and accountable. Lessons learnt from the pilots,
including in the use of the internet and new digital technology,
will be shared to help all councils keep residents informed more
effectively and efficiently.
Hazel Blears said: "Excellent public services depend on
providing not only resources but ensuring that people can easily
use those services. New technology provides an opportunity for
councils to have a real dialogue with people in their area.
"These pilots will help local residents make better use of
the services available to them, as well as holding their councils
to account for the quality of those services.
"It is vital that public services are at the forefront of
using new technology to allow people to easily share information
about their public services and have a real say in how they are run."
Today's announcement is for the first round of pilots that
will be followed by a second round in the Spring. The successful
councils are
* London Borough of Barnet - will create an online consultation
tool showing information on planning applications in a more useful
format. It will allow users to track applications, comment on
decisions and communicate with other users.
* Birmingham City Council - will develop an online community that
will enable local people to influence the planning and delivery of services.
* Cambridgeshire County Council - will develop a one stop shop
website for use by parents and carers of disabled children that
will include specialist information from third sector organisations.
* Gloucestershire County Council - will create 18 online
community notice boards for neighbourhoods that will provide
information on local services and allow people to contact service
providers. There will also be dedicated space on notice boards for
partners such as police who will provide crime maps for the area.
* Kent County Council - will provide online information on local
services in a way that allows people to choose which areas of
information they use to provide a customised online service.
* Lancashire County Council - will provide tailored information
on support to citizens affected by the downturn such as advice
about debt, jobs and training.
* Leeds City Council - will create an interactive information
site for older and disabled users of adult social care that will
enable users to find out about different options for services near
where they live and see the reviews of services by other older and
disabled people in their area.
* Liverpool City Council - will develop the 'My
Neighbourhood' portal that will allow people to request
services, report problems in their neighbourhood and track how
they are being dealt with.
* Norfolk County Council - will create community websites to
provide up-to-date local information and support local campaigns.
* Wigan Council - will provide an interactive database to help
people find opportunities for local volunteering and participation.
Notes to editors
1. Chapter 3 of the 2008 White Paper, Communities in Control:
Real People, Real Power, published in July 2008, set out how the
government would help local authorities to provide better
information to their citizens on local services, performance and
opportunities to get involved in their local areas. The Timely
Information to Citizens project was set up to take this forward.
2. As well as funding pilots, the Timely Information to Citizens
project has commissioned research into which current methods of
providing information to citizens are most effective at informing
and empowering citizens, and is supporting the development of a
good practice toolkit at http://www.esd.org.uk/informingcitizens
to help local authorities to develop more effective ways of
informing their citizens.
3. A second round of pilots will be announced in May. The
majority of pilots are expected to be up and running by Summer
2009 and will be subjected to an independent evaluation which will
report in 2010, feeding back the lessons learnt into the good
practice toolkit for the benefit of other local authorities.
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