Great for visitors but not accountants (Milton Keynes Borough Council)

Member Name: offy

Product:	Milton Keynes Borough Council
Date:	17/04/01 (158 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Full of useful information

Disadvantages: Coudn't get to the finances

Most local council websites restrict themselves to council ‘business’ and use the codes gov.uk, but Milton Keynes Council likes to be different. In order to promote the city more, it has the unusual address of www.mkweb.co.uk. This was actually unhelpful when I was trying to find their website to see if there were any jobs going as I tried addresses like miltonkeynes.gov.uk or mkcouncil.gov.uk.

A bit of background for you: Milton Keynes is in North Buckinghamshire and ‘broke away’ from the Aylesbury run Buckinghamshire County Council a few years ago. It is normally a labour/liberal run council with the emphasis on community. Milton Keynes is a ‘New Town’ which was designed 30 years ago but is still being built. It incorporates some original villages such as Bletchley, Simpson (where I live), Newport Pagnell and Loughton to name but a few. It has thousands upon thousands of new houses and an ever growing population. It is famous for concrete cows, the shopping centre (which has recently expanded) and roundabouts, the latter making it a car friendly city with no traffic jams even at peak periods. The leisure facilities and entertainment choices are brilliant, from national hockey, to the theatre, to indoor snow skiing. Milton Keynes operates on a grid system (horizontals and verticals) and is packed full of plants and trees planted by the council (and formerly the Milton Keynes Development Council). Business is thriving with many Head Offices here, so it is full of employment agencies.

Anyway, back to the site itself - once you find it, it is extremely extensive. There are links to the websites of the sponsors of the site, which include Abbey National (the largest employer in Milton Keynes), the management company running the local shopping centre and the local radio station. As the site is sponsored, it does mean having annoying flashing banners and adverts all over the place. There is also a separate
link to the Milton Keynes Council pages, which are more like ‘normal’ council pages.

The site is professional looking, full of photos, pictures, colourful links and articles. However, it might look a bit too busy for some people. I’ll start with a summary of the links/subjects on the main website. There is a list of the most recent articles posted, the latest ones this week include details of the forthcoming Bon Jovi concert at the Bowl and some school job adverts. There is a very useful ‘information directory’ run by the local library which you can use to find information about the local area, anything from dance clubs to local dentists.

There is a 4 day weather forecast link and a city map (very useful if you get confused at all those roundabouts). The map is interactive, moving around according to your mouse click. There is a restaurant guide and a ‘what’s on’ link. You can even add events to the guide via a separate link. There is a business directory of nearly 5000 local companies, which includes details about their business and links to their websites if they have them - very useful if researching companies for jobs. One of the new features is the Milton Keynes Council vacancies link (shame it wasn’t there when I needed it).

There is a ‘forum’ or message board, with the latest postings being about the cracks in the roads around the chopping centre and a debate on whether the local roller skating centre is closing. There is a link to advertise on the website (but please don’t) and also a search facility for the whole site. Another link is to ‘local news’ and there is also a link to ‘add news’, however, the main part of the home page is filled with local news, so this link seems to be snippets of less important items. Finally, and some might say most importantly, there is a link to a pub & club guide. As you can see from my des
cription, this is much more than just a local council website.

Following the link to the MK council webpage, more familiar subjects for councils are to be seen, such as the council’s objective of ‘To promote the social, economic and environmental well-being of the people of Milton Keynes’. I must say that by extending their website more than any other council sites I briefly looked at, they do appear to be moving in the right direction. At the top of the page is an introduction to Milton Keynes Council explaining that they provide over 170 services and work 365 days 24 hours a day for us.

Dooyoo ask whether you can find you local MP, councillors or Trading Standards Officer…. and yes, there are links to all of them. In case you are interested, my local MP is Dr Phyllis Starkey (Labour) – that proves how easy it is to find the information, as I couldn’t have told you that before (shame on you I hear you say). I now even know what she looks like.

There is a council directory of services, a visitors’ guide, a link to local sports, and an article on the census (only 12 days to go according to the site). There are also articles on complaining to the council, road safety, translation services, guides to births, deaths and marriages, learning opportunities and the community care plan. Their address and contact details are clearly displayed and there is a link to register for a postal vote.

I tried opening some pages in the ‘Best Value Performance Plan 2001-2001’, but once it had downloaded the files, they wouldn’t open. Therefore I was unable to see where they had been spending MY money. However, there is a link to contact them. So I shall do just that and see how quickly they respond. Council tax in Milton Keynes is quite high, but they do keep the city looking great. They spend a lot of money on landscaping, and I would be interested to know how much. This website d
oesn’t appear to give me this information (or at least not easily).

In summary, this is a superb website for information about Milton Keynes in general. The council’s own page is a little less informative, particularly about finances, but still gives and excellent overview of the work it carries out. Milton Keynes Council also actively encourages feedback and involvement, which is a good thing. If you are considering visiting Milton Keynes or the surrounding areas, I would suggest a quick visit to this site beforehand. It may help you navigate all those lovely roundabouts and find the concrete cows after all!

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