A ‘DIGITAL-first’ approach by West Devon Borough Council has been deemed a success, but councillors have been told they need to do more to reach people who don’t have computers, writes Alison Stephenson

The council’s overview and scrutiny committee heard that customers are satisfied with the online service, with 80 per cent of customers communicating with the authority online.

The council also operates a call centre and opens its Kilworthy Park offices in Tavistock on Tuesdays when it is visited by between ten and 16 people on average a week.

Complaints to the council are generally in single figures each month.

A third of the people who visited the office are dropping off forms or collecting recycling bins, and another third used computers on site for accessing services.

There has been no increase in people visiting the centre since the digital-first approach was introduced.

“Locality teams” offer home visits to vulnerable customers and people who don’t have transport. Community development officers attended public events.

But Cllr Paul Vachon (Ind, Okehampton South) said: “We are still missing people. It’s a big problem. Engaging with our community and customers is the biggest thing we need to do and we are not doing it fully. There is still a large amount of people we are not getting to because they don’t have computers and some people do not have good enough broadband to get in touch with us online.

“We lost the outreach centre in Okehampton a few years ago, we have centre here for Tavistock people but where do Okehampton people go?”

He said they could only go to Citizens Advice which should be signposted better by the council.

Cllr Jeff Moody (Ind, Tavistock North) lead member for customer experience and accessible services, said: “We are the council. There are 31 of us. It’s not just up to our engagement officers. It is up to us as councillors to go to those events and have council surgeries and take information back to parish councils.”

Cllr Mandy Ewings (Ind, Tavistock South West) said the locality budget is £1,000 and if organisations want the community development team to come along to other events at the weekends they may have to stump up a contribution of £100.

Leaflets had been produced to let people know what the three tiers of local government do, as many people still think the borough council has responsibility for pothole repairs, rather than Devon County Council. There are plans to get this document online. A waste collection calendar is already online.

The council will be attending Tavistock Pride and agricultural shows in Okehampton and Chagford among the scheduled public engagement events this year.