Kirklees Council goes digital to help people share what they know

13/01/2011

Kirklees Council launches an online service www.whoownsmyneighbourhood.org.uk on January 13 designed to make it easier for residents and community groups to make use of green and disused land in their area and share what they know about their local neighbourhood.

The pilot service, called 'Who Owns My Neighbourhood?' goes live on January 13 and aims to:

• Make it easier for community groups to make use of green and redundant spaces and make suggestions for how they could be used more effectively for the benefit of the community.
• Build a community resource where residents can add and discuss information about their area, including news and local history.
• Help residents raise issues such as fly-tipping in order to keep their neighbourhood clean.
• Give residents an opportunity to decide how land is used and make it easier to request space for projects such as community allotments.
• Allow residents to keep up to date with solutions to local land problems.

Kirklees Council is calling on local residents to try out the new service and provide feedback to help the resource develop further. The site is being tested by community groups in the Newsome Ward of Huddersfield between now and March. Anyone who lives or works anywhere in the Kirklees area is also welcome to start using the site and offer suggestions for improvements.

Cllr Mehboob Khan, Leader of Kirklees Council, said: "The inspiration for this project was the hard work of many community groups across Kirklees who are working to improve their local area. We want to make it easier for people to make contact with others who share their enthusiasm, and to find new ways of helping residents to get things done.

"Sometimes it's the uncertainty over who owns a particular plot of land that stops people from making a difference, so we're keen to share our own information and to encourage people who live or work in Kirklees to do the same. We'd like people in Kirklees to try out the new web site and let us know what other information they'd like us to add, and tell us what we can do to make this service more useful."

The website is part of a pioneering project run by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) called 'Make it Local'. Kirklees Council and web developer Thumbprint Co-operative, who together came up with the idea of developing 'Who Owns My Neighbourhood?', are one of four teams across the country taking part in the programme.

'Make it Local' aims to help local authorities maximise use of the vast amounts of data they hold to create innovative, web based services that benefit their community. 

Philip Colligan, Executive Director of NESTA's public services lab, said: "The open data movement is often focused on accountability of public services. That's important but only part of the picture. The Make it Local programme and this excellent project from Kirklees Council and Thumbprint Co-operative shows how the data held by councils can be used in innovative ways to transform services and create real value for citizens and communities."

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About NESTA

NESTA is the UK's foremost independent expert on how innovation can solve some of the country's major economic and social challenges. Its work is enabled by an endowment, funded by the National Lottery, and it operates at no cost to the government or taxpayer. It is a world leader in its field and carries out its work through a blend of experimental programmes, analytical research and investment in early-stage companies. www.nesta.org.uk   

About 'Make it Local'

'Make it Local' aims to identify how local authorities can maximise their use of open data by working with local digital companies to create innovative services that benefit their community. Applications had to address a specific need identified by local residents, allow users an opportunity to update and augment the data with their own content and use real-time local public data.

The four winning local authorities and their digital partners are:

• London Borough of Barnet in partnership with mySociety.
• London Borough of Sutton in partnership with web developer Adrian Short.
• Kirklees Council in partnership with Thumbprint Co-operative.
• Birmingham City Council in partnership with Mudlark.

NOTE TO EDITORS

For further information please contact:

NESTA  - Ruth Attride on 020 7438 2609 or ruth.attride@nesta.org.uk 

Thumbprint Co-operative - Andrew Wilson on 07980 224927 or wilsonandyb@gmail.com

Kirklees Council - Diane Sims on 01484 414823 or diane.sims@kirklees.gov.uk