Release Date: 25/07/2012

Online one-stop-shop for Council services launched

Residents can now manage their parking, garden waste and Council Tax in a user-friendly online customer account on theCouncil website.

Over the last few months the Council has been developing the ‘Richmond Account’ which makes it easier for residents to log-on to the Council website and access the Council’s most popular services, all within their own personalised area. Every resident can now sign up for their own account – with just one user name and password log-in required to access a growing range of services.

Already over 5,000 people have signed up and can manage their parking permits, garden recycling bin rental, view their Council Tax or Business Rates, sign up to receive weekly emails with useful Council information and the new village newsletter.

For those who want to see a demonstration of the account, over the next few months residents who take part in a libraries free ICT taster sessions will be shown the benefits of the account and how to set one up. The sessions are suitable for anyone – whether you are a complete beginner, need to refresh your knowledge or just want to learn more about using the internet

Councillor Pamela Fleming, Cabinet Member for Member for Community, Business and Culture, said:

“Over the past year we have been reviewing all our services to see if we can identify more efficient ways for residents to access them.

“For example, those who needed a new parking permit previously had to send in a lot of information by post to the Council. Now, they can go online, register and upload their documentation all from the comfort of their home.

“We have introduced this ‘self-service’ mechanism to a number of our services and it has been very popular – with over 70% of our parking permits now applied for online.

“However, with more residents accessing their services online, it means that they have to enter their personal details repeatedly across our website. This is not ideal. Therefore this new online account brings together the most popular Council services, providing a one-stop-shop for a number of services – you only need to provide your details once.

“In addition to this the Richmond Account has the added benefit of enabling residents to sign up to receive more information about the Council. In the All in One over 6,000 residents told us that they want to know more about what is going on in their local area, in particular what local groups and people are doing and how they can get involved.

“We have therefore responded and launched quarterly village newsletters that have specific, localised information, feeding back on the issues that residents raised in the survey. We can now also email weekly information about local issues, including all planning applications made within a certain distance of people’s homes, something that I know will be of great interest to many people.

“By going to the Council website and completing a short form, residents can now access all and more. The Council is continuing to identify more services that can be brought into the Richmond Account over the next year.

“For those who need a bit more guidance on setting up and account, I am pleased that our friendly libraries staff are integrating this into their very successful weekly courses.”

For more information or to sign up for a Richmond Account, go to: www.richmond.gov.uk/account, go to: www.richmond.gov.uk/libraries to sign up for an IT taster session or pop into your local library.