London Borough of Camden receives prestigious national award

The 2008 Exemplar Award for the National Street Gazetteer (NSG) 'Best Street Works Application', was awarded to Camden for the innovative way its system enables residents to report highway problems online as well as providing a comprehensive web-based record of all street works taking place. The annual Exemplar Awards for Local Government are presented by the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) and Intelligent Addressing.

There are currently about 14,000 holes dug in the road every year in Camden; utility companies are responsible for most of these. The Council has introduced an integrated technology system to capture this information electronically and combine it with information about its own road works, temporary road closures and applications for skip, crane and scaffold licences. It has opened this information up to the public through a world-class web facility. The improvements mean that residents wishing to report any kind of highway problem - from a pot-hole to a broken street light - can now do so online. This information is then automatically fed into a database, giving the council the ability to control and monitor the response. An engineer can authorise the work online, which generates a works order sent electronically to a contactor. As a result the Council has drastically transformed the service for customers and has significantly improved back office efficiency. The NSG is the enabling technology behind this groundbreaking application.

John Hayes, Director at the Improvement and Development Agency said as he presented the award "The system at Camden enables residents to report highway problems online as well as providing a comprehensive web-based record of all street works taking place. Since implementing the programme, it is no exaggeration to say that the Council has transformed service to its customers and significantly improved back office efficiency."

24th October 2008

Notes to Editors:

The NLPG was initiated in 1999 to become the master address dataset for England and Wales and the central hub for the 376 address creating Local Authorities and their Local Land and Property Gazetteers (LLPGs). Based on unique property reference numbers (UPRNs) the underlying principle of these gazetteers is to provide a single definitive ad dress database for all departments and systems across a local authority in order to cut costs, improve efficiency and service delivery.

The dataset enables various local authority departments - from revenue collection and environmental health, to social security, the electoral roll and education - to now offer true âjoined up' government. The benefits also go beyond service delivery. Fraud prevention, tax collection and disaster planning all benefit from the fact that each property is given a âUnique Property Reference Number' which transcends (property) numbers, names, descriptions (such as âThe Nursing Home') and postcodes. UPRNs are assigned for the full life of the plot and/or building.

The project was given a significant boost in 2005 with the introduction of the Mapping Services Agreement, which committed all Local Authorities to bringing their gazetteers up to standard and to start submitting regular updates to the NLPG hub for use by national and regional organisations. Collaboration with DNA-S (Definitive National Addressing for Scotland) who use the same BS7666 processes and database schemas means that a British addressing infrastructure is now a reality.

Intelligent Addressing is a specialist private sector consultancy (an SME) employing recognised experts in addressing. It was originally set up to help develop the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG) on behalf of local government and now manages the NLPG and NSG central data hubs under the terms of the Mapping Services Agreement (MSA) with local government.

Intelligent Addressing contact:

Gayle Gander, Head of Marketing | 0207 747 3500 | E-mail: [email protected] | www.intelligent-addressing.co.uk, www.thensg.org.uk, www.nlpg.org.uk

Editorial enquiries and colour separation requests:

William Allbrook | T: 01666 826641 | F: 01666 824668

The Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) The IDeA works in partnership with all councils, to enhance the performance of the best, accelerate the speed of improvement of the rest, and develop the sector as a whole. IDeA has brokered the Mapping Services Agreement (MSA) with Intelligent Addressing to develop the NLPG and NSG, through the Local Government Information House (LGIH), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Agency.

Working in partnership with the local government community developing national infrastructure projects that enable councils to deliver local services more effectively, LGIH acts as an intermediary between the public and the private sector enabling it to negotiate with private companies on behalf of local authorities in order to provide key parts of a technical infrastructure for improved service delivery.

The NLPG is a joint venture between the Information House and Intelligent Addressing Limited.

IDeA contacts:

Paul Bailey | 020 7296 6600 | Email: [email protected] | www.idea.gov.uk