30 April 2018

Better Connected 2018 report highlights Local Councils' roadworks communication performance

The Better Connected annual survey of public sector websites, published by Socitm, has once again focused on how Local Authorities successfully inform the public about roadworks.

Tags: Better ConnectedSOCITMroadworks communicationCheshire East County Councilroadworks.org

96% of Google searches on 'roadworks' from the public reach the relevant destination. A fact the report puts down to:

"Almost all councils now use a mapping interface to display roadworks: in England and Wales this was almost always Elgin’s roadworks.org, and in Scotland the Scottish Roadworks Register."

Highways enquiries represent around 2-3% of all visits according to Socitm data, and are part of the wider ‘mobility’ category of services (including parking, streetworks, transport and buses) It is the single biggest category of council web visits after rubbish and recycling. 

The free-to-view roadworks.org provides information on roadworks, closures and diversions, public transport information and other traffic disruptions.

Cheshire East Council was one example of best practice highlighted by the report, where, like many other Councils, they have embedded the roadworks.org map into their Council site centred on the Cheshire East locality.

The full Socitm Better Connected report can be found here, where Councils can look at their own individual performances.

About Socitm Better Connected

Better Connected is owned and was originally developed by Socitm. Since May 2015 it has been run in partnership with Boilerhouse Communications. Anyone can access ‘all-council’ reports and individual council headline results from Better Connected surveys here. Full details of individual council reviews are available to Better Connected subscribers only.