A supplementary edition of nations and regions news, which appears in Socitm’s annual magazine, In Our View, with recent stories from Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and every region of England.
Scotland
Argyll and Bute Council has used drones to deliver school meals and medication as well as inspect railways, in pilots of the technology linked to plans for an advanced air mobility hub at Oban airport.
Wales
Caerphilly County Borough Council has added a search tool to its website which provides instructions how to repair, reuse, recycle or dispose of specific items or materials with the aim of increasing the borough’s recycling rates.
Northern Ireland
Belfast City Council has run an event on how tourism could be supported through immersive technologies including augmented, virtual and mixed reality, as part of its ‘Augment the City’ industry competition.
Republic of Ireland
Limerick City and County Council has launched a digital map of current and planned walking, wheeling and cycling projects in its area, with plans to share the data with OpenStreetMap and Google Maps.
North-east England
Newcastle City Council has run an eight-week digital inclusion training course for those who do not speak English as a first language, with those completing the course receiving a free tablet device.
Yorkshire and the Humber
Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council has joined other local authorities including Kirklees and Cumberland in providing information on local venues that provide safety measures through the free WalkSafe app.
North-west England
Lancaster City Council has opened a 30km fibre optic internet network covering Lancaster, Morecambe and Heysham, which it plans to follow with a data centre whose waste heat will be applied to a council swimming pool.
East Midlands
Derby City Council has improved its online chatbot Darcie to answer more complex questions, including enquiries on adult social care, in English and the city’s nine next most common languages.
West Midlands
Shropshire Council-run River Severn Partnership Advanced Wireless Innovation Region is working to improve flood forecasts by using Vodafone’s network infrastructure to monitor rainfall through changes in signal strength.
East of England
Thurrock Council has launched an artificial intelligence-based, voice-activated chatbot, initially to answer questions from callers about council tax, with plans to extend this to housing, rents and benefits.
South-east England
Buckinghamshire Council is using low Earth orbit satellites to provide broadband for village halls and public wireless services in poorly-connected rural areas, having found this can be cheaper than physical cables.
South-west England
Bristol City Council has opened an online housing advice service developed by charity AdviceAid covering issues including tenancy rights and eviction which aims to help people find alternative accommodation rather than becoming homeless.
London
Westminster City Council has published a procurement notice for a £4 million data system that will support artificial intelligence and personalised services, based on a data warehouse using Snowflake’s technology.
For links to press release pages of local authorities in the UK, Republic of Ireland and Crown Dependencies, view Socitm’s local authority press release directory.