NORTH East Lincolnshire Council will be launching a brand new website this month, marking the beginning of a new era in providing local services and information online.
The website has been developed using feedback from customers and employees. It looks cleaner and brighter and will be much easier for people to find the information they want. It is simple to use and it will bring many benefits to the council, local residents and partner organisations. As more and more services become available online, it will be easier and cheaper for customers as they will need to make fewer telephone calls and personal visits to council offices.
The council has been developing the new site over the past year with internet firm Web-Labs, and the first phase of the development is expected to go live on February 16. The new site is part of one of a number of projects in the council’s improvement programme, Towards Top Performance.
The project is an ongoing one. This first phase will see all the important information that the council must provide online, but many more functions will appear on the website as the project is rolled out throughout the year. Some of the other features that will become available include opportunities for people to get involved with polls, forums and blogs. Information will be available on maps so customers will be able to see at a glance the services near to where they live. There will be an events facility, to which community groups can contribute, and a photo gallery allowing people to share their photos of the region.
Rob Walsh, executive director of business services, said: “When the council’s original website was launched in 2003, it was considered at the forefront of local government websites in terms of design and content. But online technology has evolved radically since then, and the functionality we had has become ever-more restrictive. It has also fallen behind the times in terms of accessibility – a shortfall which the council has an obligation to correct.
“This new website gives us the ability to exploit new ways of communicating and delivering services to local people.”
Councillor Steve Beasant who is the cabinet member with responsibility for customer services said: “This new website should prove to be much more successful than the old, outdated site. Technology in recent years as moved forward rapidly. In the coming months more features will be added and this will mean that local residents will be able to take advantage of new ways of accessing services and information.
“We expect they will have a much better customer experience and be able to find their way around the site much easier.”
The council chose to work with Web-Labs because they have a proven track record of providing local councils with high quality websites and functions tailored to the needs of councils and their customers.
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