New HDC website also improves phone service

I WISH to respond to Councillor Andy Monk, as he kindly mentioned me in his letter (January 27) regarding the Huntingdonshire District Council website. I would not want your readers to be under the impression that I was ignoring him – far from it: his di

I WISH to respond to Councillor Andy Monk, as he kindly mentioned me in his letter (January 27) regarding the Huntingdonshire District Council website.

I would not want your readers to be under the impression that I was ignoring him - far from it: his 'discovery' that we spent �5,000 on external consultants wasn't the result of some great investigation on his part: I authorised this information to be passed to him.

At the same time we also made it clear to him that a full, audited cost of the website would be made available to the next meeting of the scrutiny panel (to be held in public in early February). Most of the website was developed in-house, so agreeing a fair cost is not just a matter of adding up a few invoices.

In the meantime, I can assure your readers the new website was needed (the technical support for key parts of the old site had been removed) and that it has been delivered within budget. As we have created some innovative computer code within the site, we are also investigating the possibility of selling this intellectual property.

More and more people use the internet not only to find out information but also to access the services we offer. For many people, it's actually more convenient to them than calling, writing or visiting us.

It also means our call centre answers the phone even more promptly to those who do need to speak to someone - as well as people who don't wish to use the internet.

I'm always happy to have people look over and question how my portfolio is running. However the only 'story' here is a positive one for Huntingdonshire residents.

Councillor JONATHAN GRAY

Kimbolton and Staughton Ward

Huntingdonshire District Council