Letters

摘要

Your article 'Councils "miss" vital social network role' (The MJ, 2 October) about councils failing to use social networking sites as a way of communicating to residents misses the point Local government still has a long way to go to get the basics right when it comes to talking to residents in a way that is both useful and easy to understand. Social networking sites, such as Facebook, can be a good approach for getting young people to understand and get involved in council services, but the vast majority of local authority communications lag far behind those of the private sector. In the last three years, according to councils' own surveys, there was a 9% drop in the number of residents who felt that they were kept well informed by their local authority. Before looking to develop new, web-based communication tools, we need to get the basics right, such as branding and media management. While CIPFA welcomes the pledge from minister John Healey not to cut central grant to local authorities, despite deteriorating public finances, it recognises this will still mean tough times ahead for local authorities (The MJ, 2 October). Councils are facing significant inflationary pressures which they are having to absorb within existing budgets. After years of making efficiency savings, the low hanging fruit have all been picked, and authorities are having to look at more radical actions.