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Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council has received a prestigious national award for the innovative use of street based information to improve efficiency and delivery of essential Council services.
The Exemplar 2006 award for the âMost Creative Use' recognised the comprehensive application, by Sandwell Council, of a centralised street directory throughout its Highways division. Responsible for roads, footpaths, verges, lights, crossings, trees, bridges and other structures Highways Direct maintains a centralised list of all streets and associated features in order to manage, maintain and protect the highway network and its users.
The street based information is used to ensure efficient delivery of services, consistent management and effective communication with residents. The information, created and maintained by Council staff, includes street names, numbers, maintenance records and details of associated features such a street lighting, crossings and gullies. The Council has developed a number of applications based on the centrally held, accurate and up to date street information. These include an application to assist Risk Management Services in dealing with highways related claims, a map enabled application for the management of road condition data and in the past a database application for the contract management of sponsored street signs.
"Sandwell clearly demonstrated a commitment to creating and maintaining high quality street level information," said Michael Nicholson, Managing Director of Intelligent Addressing, organisers of the Exemplar awards. "By creating this information once but applying over and over again Sandwell Council is reaping the rewards. "
Peter Whitehouse, Head of Highways Direct, said, "I welcome this award in recognition of the hard work carried out by my staff to make best use of Sandwell's street gazetteer." The work undertaken by Sandwell Council on their street directory (Local Street Gazetteer) forms part of a national initiative to improve efficiency and service delivery. The Council's street records link to a nationwide database called the National Street Gazetteer (NSG) that allows public authorities to freely share information across government departments, utility companies and emergency services for example.
The Exemplar awards acknowledge the effort, commitment and achievements of Local Authorities in creating, sharing and using accurate council information such as property databases and street gazetteers. The 2006 NLPG / NSG Exemplar awards, organised by Intelligent Addressing and supported by the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA), received a record number of entries and the presentation ceremony took place at the Radisson Edwardian Hotel, Manchester on the 10th October.
10 October 2006
The street based information is used to ensure efficient delivery of services, consistent management and effective communication with residents. The information, created and maintained by Council staff, includes street names, numbers, maintenance records and details of associated features such a street lighting, crossings and gullies. The Council has developed a number of applications based on the centrally held, accurate and up to date street information. These include an application to assist Risk Management Services in dealing with highways related claims, a map enabled application for the management of road condition data and in the past a database application for the contract management of sponsored street signs.
"Sandwell clearly demonstrated a commitment to creating and maintaining high quality street level information," said Michael Nicholson, Managing Director of Intelligent Addressing, organisers of the Exemplar awards. "By creating this information once but applying over and over again Sandwell Council is reaping the rewards. "
Peter Whitehouse, Head of Highways Direct, said, "I welcome this award in recognition of the hard work carried out by my staff to make best use of Sandwell's street gazetteer." The work undertaken by Sandwell Council on their street directory (Local Street Gazetteer) forms part of a national initiative to improve efficiency and service delivery. The Council's street records link to a nationwide database called the National Street Gazetteer (NSG) that allows public authorities to freely share information across government departments, utility companies and emergency services for example.
The Exemplar awards acknowledge the effort, commitment and achievements of Local Authorities in creating, sharing and using accurate council information such as property databases and street gazetteers. The 2006 NLPG / NSG Exemplar awards, organised by Intelligent Addressing and supported by the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA), received a record number of entries and the presentation ceremony took place at the Radisson Edwardian Hotel, Manchester on the 10th October.
10 October 2006
