Pendle Council’s website rated best in East Lancashire

Leader of the Council, Councillor Mike Blomeley, said:

"The website was the only one in East Lancashire to be given the coveted three star rating, which means that the site is "very good"."

The Council's website was inspected during November and December 2010 by the independent group.

Socitm carries out a mystery surfer exercise every winter to rate all council websites in the country and to encourage website developments.

It reports on the findings and ratings in March.

Kathryn Halton and Marcia Allass who are the Council's Web Co-ordinators said:

"We've been working hard since last year to make improvements to our website to make the site even more user friendly.

"We're delighted that our efforts have paid off and that the Council's website has moved up from being a two star site to being rated three star.

"It's thanks to a real team effort," they explained.

 "We have a team of Web Champions working right across the council to help us deliver services electronically."

The inspectors praised what they described as "a well laid out, comprehensive homepage" and an "effective search facility".

Paul Hussey, Policy Unit Manager for the Council said:

"Our website is a vital way of communicating with local people and helping them access Council services electronically.

"We're pleased about the three star rating, but we're not complacent. 

"We'll continue to improve our website and people are welcome to make suggestions on how we do it.

"At the bottom of every web page people can make comments," he explained.

"A number of people have done this already and it helps us to make improvements, along with following the best practice which Socitm recommends."

Notes:

Results for nearby councils: Burnley, Hyndburn, Rossendale, Ribble Valley, Blackburn with Darwen, Chorley and Lancashire County Council were all rated two star - "adequate" - sites.

In Lancashire; West Lancashire, Preston and Wyre were the councils who, alongside Pendle, gained a three star rating.

Only nine councils in the country received the highest rating of four stars.  These include Edinburgh, who invested £210,000 in their website last year.  Our nearest four star council website is Salford.