Planning permission proves top hit for Arun website

Arun District Council revealed the last four months alone had seen more than 45,000 hits, and more than 20,000 housing enquiries.

The news followed a statement by the council about customer’s increasingly using the online services, something which forms part of Vision 2020 programme to make ‘dealing with the council easier and more convenient’.

Councillor Paul Wotherspoon, Arun’s cabinet member for community services, said: “Whilst it is important that Arun remains accessible for all, people do now expect there to be an online option available.”

Online parking enquiries were described as ‘seasonal’ with ‘7,804 in quarter one 2016 (Apr – Jun) and 12,833 in Q2’.

A spokesperson for Arun said: “The peak was in August, with 5,896.”

And that the ‘most frequently visited item was car park information and charges for Bognor Regis’.

Cllr Wotherspoon added: “By allowing customers to pay their bills online it means that the council’s staff in the contactcCentre can perform other duties and Arun can become more efficient which helps keep the level of council tax charged as low as possible.”

The Customer Services Quarterly Report was presented to the Housing and Customer Services Working Group last Thursday, 24 November.

Last month, on October 6, saw the council be a partner at the first-ever Digital Tea Party at Littlehampton Library.

The event attracted more than a hundred members of the public who borught ‘their laptops, smart phones and tablets to the event with a list of challenges they wanted to tackle online’.

Cllr Wotherspoon said: “I very much hope that Arun runs similar events in the future as there is sufficient demand.”