There are a number of internet sites that could be useful to us in our work as Councillors. Here’s three we’ve found useful recently – let us know if they’re useful to you, or if you know of any others that should be promoted:
www.fixmystreet.com is a sort of (non-party) online casework service. The site encourages people to register their local issues, and then monitor how, when and by who they’re fixed by.
Enter your postcode (or a postcode in the middle of the ward you represent) and you’ll get a list of issues in your local area. You can sign up for email alerts every time someone enters a new issue. This might be a good way to keep on top of new issues in your area – let us know how you get on!
www.planningalerts.com has been around on a trial basis for a little while now – its pretty straight-forward: give your postcode and email address and in return you get news of planning applications by email. The email alerts seem to be better than many offered by councils themselves, so this may also be a useful service for councillors and colleagues to promote to the public in your patch. It covers 315 local authorities at the moment, and if your isn’t one of them then you can help add it to the service. (with thanks to Mark Pack for this story).
Write to Them
Another website from the same people as Fix My Street is www.writetothem.com. This is less for you, but for your constituents to contact you. But its worth checking that your information is up there an up to date!
Enter the postcode in your ward, and hopefully you should come up as a Councillor!