Carmarthenshire Council reviews its 'tech' approach
Carmarthenshire County Council is to undertake a review of the use of new technology in the way it provides services to local people.
The Policy and Resources Scrutiny Committee will look at the council's approach to 'E-Government' to see whether there are ways to further improve local residents’ access to services.
Assistant Chief Executive, Chris Burns, said: “We have developed the council's website significantly in recent years and we receive around 9,000 visits to the site every day. At peak times the number of visits can be much higher. During the snow disruption earlier this year, for example, we had 9,000 visits just between 8 and 9 o'clock in the morning, with people looking for up to date information on school disruptions, road conditions and public transport.
“Through the council’s website you can now gain access to over 100 services 24-hours a day including such diverse transactions as reserving a library book, notifying the council of an abandoned vehicle, requesting a council house repair or telling us about a pothole in the road, a faulty streetlight or flytipping.
“The council is also making use of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, an avenue of communication which is becoming an increasingly popular way for the public to access instant news and updates. Using these sites, we can provide links to our website to alert people to breaking news – this avenue of communication is particularly useful when we need to communicate issues such as school disruptions or road closures for example.”
One of the issues the committee will look into is the possibility of video streaming council meetings via the council's website.
Mr Burns added: “We looked at doing this several years ago but at that time the number of people with broadband speeds capable of viewing video over the internet was very low, and the cost of installing the technology was quite high. However, as technology has moved on this has become more feasible and the committee will consider whether this would now be a worthwhile investment.”
Carmarthenshire County Council’s website can be accessed at www.carmarthenshire.gov.uk
The Policy and Resources Scrutiny Committee will look at the council's approach to 'E-Government' to see whether there are ways to further improve local residents’ access to services.
Assistant Chief Executive, Chris Burns, said: “We have developed the council's website significantly in recent years and we receive around 9,000 visits to the site every day. At peak times the number of visits can be much higher. During the snow disruption earlier this year, for example, we had 9,000 visits just between 8 and 9 o'clock in the morning, with people looking for up to date information on school disruptions, road conditions and public transport.
“Through the council’s website you can now gain access to over 100 services 24-hours a day including such diverse transactions as reserving a library book, notifying the council of an abandoned vehicle, requesting a council house repair or telling us about a pothole in the road, a faulty streetlight or flytipping.
“The council is also making use of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, an avenue of communication which is becoming an increasingly popular way for the public to access instant news and updates. Using these sites, we can provide links to our website to alert people to breaking news – this avenue of communication is particularly useful when we need to communicate issues such as school disruptions or road closures for example.”
One of the issues the committee will look into is the possibility of video streaming council meetings via the council's website.
Mr Burns added: “We looked at doing this several years ago but at that time the number of people with broadband speeds capable of viewing video over the internet was very low, and the cost of installing the technology was quite high. However, as technology has moved on this has become more feasible and the committee will consider whether this would now be a worthwhile investment.”
Carmarthenshire County Council’s website can be accessed at www.carmarthenshire.gov.uk
Comments