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News

Smart Cars Runaway Success for boroughofpoole.com

The Council’s SMART pool cars have proved to be a huge hit for the Borough of Poole’s website – 50,000 hits a month in fact.

In the three years since the four distinctive boroughofpoole.com branded cars were leased by the Council, the vehicles have together clocked up more than 50,000 miles or twice around the Equator. In the last year the number of unique visitors to the Council’s website has more than doubled to over 50,000 a month, equivalent to one resident for every mile travelled by the cars.

The innovative way of promoting the site has certainly paid off after the Society of IT Managers (SOCITM) awarded boroughofpoole.com Transactional Status – the highest performing rank for Council websites - in 2004 and maintained in 2005. Poole is one of only four unitary authorities in the country to make this grade out of 467 Council websites surveyed.

Christine Banfield, e-Communications Manager, Communications & Tourism, Borough of Poole, said: "Unsurprisingly in the 2005 survey there has been an increase in the highest ranking websites and those with more resources are certainly making some radical changes to feature at the top. SOCITM have moved the goalposts this year making it more difficult to stay at the top so for Poole to still feature in the top eight per cent of local authorities websites in the country is fantastic. We are continuing to steadily improve boroughofpoole.com and there is more to come this year."

As well as raising the profile of the website the added bonus of the SMART Pool cars has been to provide an energy efficient transport system for the council’s staff saving over £10,000 on mileage claims.

Cllr Neil Sorton, Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Resources, Borough of Poole, said: "The SMART cars have achieved what they were introduced for as reflected in the SOCITM survey results. They have been a very visual asset which has paid dividends in promoting boroughofpoole.com and also provided transport for employees on Council business."

Rachael Mills, Media Relations Manager, Communications and Tourism Services, Borough of Poole, tel 01202 633295