Council website is highest climber

ELLESMERE Port & Neston Borough Council’s website has been judged the most improved local government website.

The website, www.epnbc.gov.uk, is now in the top third of 460 local government sites in the UK.

The council’s website went up 256 places in September’s report on local government sites by respected IT analysts SiteMorse.

The latest success comes hard on the heels of the council website’s success in two surveys of council air quality pages on the web.

The council’s website was re-launched in July with a new, brighter look. The new site is much more user-friendly and performs far better. It is also accessible to blind and visually-impaired users for the first time.

The SiteMorse survey for September put the council’s website in 146th place in the UK out of 460 sites.

Council website editor Patrick Barnes said the improved rating was a tribute to the hard work put in behind the scenes.

He said: “This is good news, but we won’t be resting on our laurels. It’s only the start of a programme of improvements to the website, and I hope to see us climb further up the table in future surveys.

“There are a lot of exciting things planned for the website, and we intend to make it a valuable community resource. This is a very exciting time and there are changes happening every week.”

The website has just launched a new e-payments system, which allows residents to pay bills like council tax securely.

But it came into its own earlier this month when fire broke out at a scrap yard in Ellesmere Port, sending a plume of smoke over the town. The website updated residents about the fire during the incident, posting pictures minutes after they were taken.

Residents were also able to see the immediate effects of the fire on the town’s air quality, thanks to live data published on the website.

ENDS

Press release issued: October 6, 2006