LGA praises £230m savings saved in council services

According to the report, iPhone apps have enabled citizens to uncover a range of information from planning applications and road-works, to where the next bus is, and the hygiene ratings of local pubs and restaurants.

 

Examples of such innovation have appeared across the country, for example Gloucestershire County Council launched an iPhone app which allows people in Gloucester to choose when and where they want to park and to pay for a ticket remotely; Lancashire County Council launched a free app for people to send it photographs of bus shelter vandalism, while Lewisham Council has a similar program relating to fly-tipping and vandalism for use on iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Phone and Android.

 

“Whether it’s bin men working smarter, fewer phone calls to inquiry centres, freeing up staff from time-consuming checks or reducing parking ticket machine maintenance costs, making the most of modern technology and data sharing has seen huge cash savings across the country,” said councillor David Parsons, chairman of the Local Government Association’s Improvement Board.

 

 “This is money which can be ploughed into vital frontline services on which millions of people rely each year, and is yet another example of councils striving to be more efficient to make their stretched budgets go as far as possible.”

 

“As well as financial savings, tapping into gadgetry has led to better communication with all members of society, young and old, and raised awareness of the services councils offer and how to get the most from them.”

 

“It is estimated such technology and information sharing could potentially save councils up to £372 million by 2014/15. In this climate of strained budgets, councils must strive to keep reaching more residents and improving services ever more creatively, and look at more ways of working together to make these big savings.”

 

The current batch of mobile apps are just the start with town halls across the country working on news ones to extend and improve services. Examples in the pipeline include an app linking a mobile phone’s calendar with refuse collections to remind people on what days to put their recycling and waste bins out.