Millions Saved by UK Councils Sharing Services Using Geographic Data

London - 18 April 2012 - The award winning partnership between Adur District Council and Worthing Borough Council in Sussex, England, is proving to be a nationally significant model for collaboration. It has achieved millions of pounds worth of savings by working together to create a single officer structure and deliver services to both communities by amalgamating services employed across the two councils including; Planning, Environmental Health, Electoral Registration, Waste Services, Land Charges, Concessionary Fares, Allotments and Park, Non Domestic Rates, Council Tax and Customer Relationship Management (CRM).

Of key importance was the creation of a single Corporate Information Team with responsibility for the Local Land and Property Gazetteers (LLPG), Geographical Information System (GIS), Street Naming and Numbering (SNN) and the Public Sector Mapping Agreement (PSMA).

Gill Van-Eetvelt, Corporate Information Manager, Adur District and Worthing Borough Councils, said: “By working in partnership Adur and Worthing Councils have successfully managed to achieve unprecedented levels of integration. As a result we have realised significant financial savings and instigated more efficient ways of working. Underpinning this success is an integrated address database that has been developed and maintained to the highest standards providing location intelligence across the partnership.”

The partnership has initiated the development of systems and processes to integrate the data across both organisations. As a result most service areas are now actively using the same address data resulting in a more joined-up and efficient service delivery plan.

The Adur and Worthing partnership has successfully managed to achieve large scale integration making significant financial savings and instigating more efficient ways of working whilst still producing excellent quality LLPG data for both local authorities, used throughout the partnership and the wider public sector.

The Adur Worthing Partnership has been recognised with a ‘2011 National Gazetteers Integration Exemplar Best Practice Award’ at the ‘Everything Happens Somewhere conference’. The award, sponsored by SOCITM (the membership association for ICT professionals working in Local Authorities), recognised the linking of the LLPG to council services or local partnerships.

The 2011 Exemplar Awards were presented by GeoPlace and aim to share, reward and celebrate best practice, which brings service improvements and efficiencies through the effective management of address and street information.

National Address Gazetteer Database

The National Address Gazetteer database is managed by GeoPlace. It brings together data from local authorities’ Local Land and Property Gazetteers (LLPGs) Ordnance Survey, Valuation Office Agency and Royal Mail. AddressBase™ products are produced from the National Address Gazetteer Database and made available by Ordnance Survey. To find out how the National Address Gazetteer Database can make substantial savings for your organisation, please visit www.geoplace.co.uk

GeoPlace

GeoPlace is a public sector limited liability partnership between the Local Government Association and Ordnance Survey. GeoPlace’s role is to create and maintain the National Address Gazetteer Database and the National Street Gazetteer for England and Wales, the definitive sources of publicly-owned spatial address and street data. Through agreement with Scotland’s Improvement Service Company, the plan is to extend coverage to Scotland.

Local Government Association

The Local Government Association is here to support, promote and improve local government. The LGA is an organisation that is run by its members and covers every part of England and Wales and includes county and district councils, metropolitan and unitary councils, London boroughs, Welsh unitary councils, fire, police, national park and passenger transport authorities.

Ordnance Survey

Ordnance Survey is Great Britain’s national mapping agency, providing the most accurate and up-to-date geographic data, relied on by government, business and individuals. Ordnance Survey utilises the National Address Gazetteer Database to create the AddressBase range of products which are available for use in both the public and commercial sectors.