Lancaster City Council has launched two new digital services to keep the public up to date with its latest news and information.

The council has joined the ‘micro blogging’ site Twitter, on which it will be posting its latest news.

People can follow the council’s ‘tweets’ at www.twitter.com/lancastercc. (We look forward to reading “We’re stopping local companies circumventing the results of a planning inquiry”)

Coun Stuart Langhorn, leader of the council, will also be publishing a regular blog on the council’s website at www.lancaster.gov.uk/leaders-blog. There’s not a lot on it right now, however, and the page doesn’t yet seem to have an RSS feed, which makes it lees user-friendly than we’d like her at virtual-lancaster

“Repeated surveys have shown that people want the council to provide them with information on how we spend their money,” explains Coun Langhorn.

“We are continually looking for ways in which we can do just that and these two new digital services are both excellent opportunities to get the message across.

“I hope that people will take this opportunity to find out more about the council and also give us their comments and feedback on the services we provide.”

In addition to the new Twitter and blog sites, the council is still updating its website, www.lancaster.gov.uk, and there are an increasing number of ‘do it online’ services on offer – such as paying council bills or finding schools, recycling points or roadworks.

One useful feature we’ve recently discovered is the ability to check for planning applications in your area, although it would be more useful if you could set up an alert to tell you when planning applications were available to view.