Fresher look for website (From Gazette Series)

Fresher look for website

STROUD District Council's award-winning website has been given a facelift to bring it into the 21st century.

Not only does the site look better but it is also easier to navigate.

The council has also taken the opportunity to introduce several new pages, which are expected to prove popular.

These include a housing benefit calculator, designed to give an idea of whether someone is likely to qualify for benefit.

Planning applications can now be viewed on line and comments submitted electronically.

With the district's Local Plan also on the website, the person in the street can easily get an idea of likely future development in the locality.

The website now meets the Bobby AAA standard, making it easier for people with disabilities to access the site.

The council worked with two visually-impaired people to test the site and prove that the Bobby AAA facilities really would be of benefit.

Very few websites in either the public or private sectors have achieved this standard.

Another new feature is that people moving house need only complete a few questions on-line, rather than informing several different council departments. Clubs and societies can also register themselves on a list, while events can be put on a What's On list.

Council leader Cllr Chas Fellows said: "Our new website is a huge improvement over the old one. It is far from being the dull council site that you might expect. "It has got information of interest to the whole community, so why not take a look?"

The old website had been described as "definitely the gold standard" by the Society of Information Technology Management in its annual survey of council websites and was one of just twenty to achieve the coveted transactional status.

The new website (www.stroud.gov.uk) went live on Monday.