Preston City Council

Preston City Council has moved from managing their Looking Local microsite to the Looking Local Bureau Service, this has made a big diference to their service.

Preston CC is part of the Greater Manchester cluster and was one of the first sites to go live within that cluster in November 2004. Keeping the site up to date was becoming a problem due to many internal factors including new and ongoing projects, and staff resources.

When the DITV project offered a Bureau Service we jumped at the chance. We knew from the outset if we were not happy that our original microsite had been frozen and we could go back to managing it ourselves. We are very happy with the new site, and were impressed with the quick changeover to the Bureau Service.

A lot of our original content was included on the new site, and we know our site will always be kept up to date. This is achieved by PCC sending monthly updates of news and events which will keep our site information up to the minute and will give our citizens a Looking Local site that is worth accessing. As an added bonus our site now boasts the new legal help "search" feature which is now live on Looking Local bureau microsites.

Joan Leary
Preston City Council

Birmingham City Council

Birmingham's opinion of the Looking Local bureau service and DiTV from both an officer and councillor perspective.

Deputy Leader Cllr Paul Tilsley, Birmingham said:

"I hope local people will put the full force of their fingertips behind this new digital service. iDTV is just one example of how Birmingham is striving to become the leading European Digital City by 2010. The technology will benefit both local people and businesses alike providing not only another way to report problems, but also allowing access to information on key services, jobs, education and leisure events."

Nikki Spencer, Project Manager - Digital Birmingham, said:

"We found the bureau service an excellent way of developing Digital communication and access routes into the Local Authority for citizens with minimal maintenance implications."

Isle of Man

"Our journey in setting up a Looking Local portal wasn't necessarily the easiest or most straightforward of journeys, but we have been really impressed by the patience, support and professionalism provided by the whole of the Looking Local team. We've been amazed at the amount of work put in by the bureau service to help craft the site in the way we wanted."

"The end result is a slick, professional and informative portal which we're all really proud of."

Dan Davies
Isle of Man

Warwick District Council

Warwick District Council tells how the bureau service worked for them...

"The bureau service helped us get onto the Digital TV and mobile platforms far more quickly than would otherwise have been possible. The bureau team are very helpful and efficient when we request updates to our content and interactive forms. In addition we have been able to take advantage of additional features developed nationally such as the excellent real time travel information service - allowing local residents to check bus and train times for free and without leaving the house."

Michael Branson
Warwick District Council

Wrexham

Wrexham was the first site to go live via the bureau service was April 2006, also the first Welsh site to go live. Helen Gerrard from Wrexham explains how it worked for them...

"We found the bureau service an excellent way of developing a presence on Digital Television and Mobile phones. The knowledge, expertise and support of the national project was invaluable throughout the development. With limited resource implications for ourselves we now have one of the first fully interactive Digital TV and Mobile sites offering Council services in Wales."

Helen Gerrard