Council website tops UK poll

East Sussex County Council’s website has once again received top marks in a national survey.

The website – eastsussex.gov.uk – is one of just 37 in the country to get the coveted four star rating, out of 474 local authority websites surveyed by the Society of IT Managers (SOCITM).

The website typically gets around 300,000 visits and 1,000,000 page views every month. It was redesigned early last year with a focus on enabling people to access popular services, such as reserving a library book, quickly and easily.

The society’s panel of reviewers recommended several sections of the site as blueprints for best practice. Their highlights included good consultation pages, top notch information about councillors and the library system.

Keith Glazier, Deputy Leader of the County Council, said: “This is an outstanding result and underlines our commitment to improving what we do for our residents. We have been working hard on our website in recent years, putting our customers at the heart of what we do and designing clear and simple online services. I’m really pleased to say all that hard work is paying off – we are providing a better experience for our customers, and that saves everyone time, energy and money.”

The East Sussex site allows people to access council services and carry out transactions online including:

Report a fault or find roadworks

Take part in consultations

Order copies of birth, death and marriage certificates

Apply for jobs, school places or blue car badges

Search and reserve library books and publish local events

Find recycling centres or enquire about music lessons

Register an interest in adoption and fostering

See www.eastsussex.gov.uk and www.socitm.net/news/article/175/better_connected_2013_available_now