Conservative-led West Lindsey District Council has implemented changes to it's website that are intended to improve the experience for users, making reporting concerns and paying for services quicker and easier.

The main features of the review will give customers easier access to:

• Pay it: for services online
• Apply for it: for services e.g. jobs, licences and benefits
• Report it: problems within the community e.g. fly tipping
• Book it online: for bulky waste, Trinity Arts Centre tickets and new bins
• Say it: by keeping information up to date, taking part in surveys and consultations
• Find it: quickly such as your councillor, car parks, and council tax information

Local residents will now be able to report a missed bin collection online using the new forms. So if you get home in the evening and find your bin hasn’t been emptied, simply report it online and it will be dealt with. You can also book an appointment for the pest control company to visit you.

Visitors will start to notice changes to the look of the website over the next few months, which will make it easier to apply, report and pay for council services twenty-four hours a day, three-hundred and sixty five days a year.

New simpler and responsive web forms are being designed to make it quicker to navigate the site, improving customers’ experience of the website.

Cllr. Mrs. Anne Welburn, Conservative Deputy Leader of West Lindsey District Council, who is championing the work, said:

“As technology evolves, it’s important that we do too. We want residents with internet access to be able to get information or to carry out transactions as easily as possible, when it is convenient for them. This is why the council has made developing our website a priority and we hope it will be fully functional by autumn this year.”

As more people choose to go online they will be helping to save tax-payers’ money as online communication is far more cost effective than other methods of contacting the council.

It costs around 87p per website visit, compared to £3.39 per phone call and £10.53 for every face-to-face visit. Customer contact via the website can help the council continue to provide core services whilst keeping costs down.

Telephone and face-to-face contact will still continue as it is felt these are important ways in which the council serves its local residents.