The council is putting a stop to bugbear for many residents over confusion on what councils do for communities.
An online guide has been created by North East Derbyshire District Council, providing clear and transparent explanations of what services are offered by the council and collecting a range of contact details for each.
Evidence from surveys within the council shows residents are often confused with knowing who to contact for which services, a view echoed across the country and North East Derbyshire District Council has vowed to end this by creating a detailed yet simple online solution for residents to understand what the district council provides for them.
The guide has been created in the new ‘Our Services’ section of the council’s website. Services included cover housing, environmental issues, economic support, and more.
From undertaking resident surveys and analysing social media data, the council found many reports made to them were not the responsibility of the district council such as highways and traffic issues and education queries – all of which are covered by the County Council. This proved a need for councils to raise awareness of their responsibilities.
Introducing this guide allows residents unfamiliar with the council’s services to find everything they need to know about the council’s operations, how the council can help them, and how they can get in touch – all in one place.
Information from across dozens of existing, dedicated service pages and documents was collated and condensed to form the simplified online guide.
Councillor Nigel Barker, Leader of North East Derbyshire District Council, says, “We aim to provide a great quality of life to those living in our district, by offering many helpful services.
“But when an organisation offers so much support in so many different ways, it can be easy to lose track of what’s available and how to receive it, so it’s important to lay out this information clearly so that those who need it can more easily access it.
“I hope other authorities follow suit in helping our residents understand what councils do as we are here to serve them in the best and most efficient way possible and this new feature will certainly do that.”