After tweets, City Hall wants to create council information app service for iPhone users
Published: 12 March 2010
by JAMIE WELHAM
HUNTING that elusive recycling plant, stuck for the name of your ward councillor or caught short and need a public toilet? Well, to repurpose that smug Apple slogan, “there might be an app for that”.
The West End Extra has learned that, unlikely as it sounds, Westminster Council are in the early stages of developing their own iPhone application or “app” as they are known.
This week officials held a meeting with counterparts at Warwickshire County Council – who last month became the first local authority to develop an app – to discuss how the technology would work in the borough.
A City Hall spokeswoman confirmed there had been a meeting, and said the council was exploring creating an app, mainly to help motorists find parking spaces in the West End.
In Warwickshire iPhone users can get information on job vacancies and school closures as well access to a mapping tool to locate services and facilities, but it is not clear at this stage whether a similar scope is planned for Westminster.
Jim Morton, applicant architect at Warwickshire County Council, led the meeting.
He said: “They were interested to learn from what we have done, and are keen to explore how an app might help drivers find unused car parking spaces in London. Our app is very popular because it locates services that are missed out in other apps, like AroundMe.”
Earlier in the year City Hall made a rather hesitant foray into the world of Twitter, posting news about services, events and facilities to its followers.