Councils spend £7.5 million on web redesign

The Daily Telegraph has established, via Freedom of Information requests, that local councils have spent £7.5 million a year on redesigning their websites. In fact the real figure will be rather higher as this was the money paid to contractors to do it. Other councils (such as Leeds) employed extra staff in-house to carry on a redesign.

The paper lists the top six spenders as follows:

Birmingham City Council - £2.8 million (Completed in 2009)

Essex County Council - £800,000

Medway Council - £600,000

London Borough of Haringey - £540,000

Northamptonshire County Council - £450,000

Bradford Metropolitan Council - £400,000

It makes sense for councils to have effective websites. Enquiries and transactions carried out on the web are not just convenient for residents but also reduce Council costs because fewer staff are needed. On the other hand these figures look pretty steep, don't they?