10 March 2006

Trafford Council's efforts to improve its website's accessibility and usability have been recognised by a survey that dubbed it one of the most coherent and intelligent local authority sites in Britain.

A national survey by the Society of Information Technology Management (Socitm) sought to find which of the nation's council portals are worthy of being deemed transactional, meaning that they are accessible and coherent and offering more than one type of online interaction as well as customer recognition.

The survey found that Trafford's website is one of only eight metropolitan sites worthy of this status, describing it as having "a really simple and clear look and feel that makes it really nice to use", while also deeming its navigation, search and A-Z "really good".

Council leader Susan Williams commented: "Everyone recognises the importance of widening the range of ways the council's work can be accessed, as well as the opportunities available for people to pay bills, submit applications for a variety of services and communicate generally with the council."

She said that it was a great honour to be recognised by Soctim, but claimed that the council would not become complacent and would continue to improve the accessibility, quality and clarity of services and information offered by its site.

As part of this, visitors to the site are encouraged to fill in an online survey and rate the website's quality, layout and user-friendliness.

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