Stratford-on-Avon District Council is investing £315,000 modernising its Land Charges system to improve the service for residents.
The system provides vital information for residents completing searches for house purchases. The project will see new software introduced and the system fully digitised, enabling Council staff to increase efficiency while reducing the turnaround time for search requests.
Councillor Daren Pemberton, Planning & Building Services Portfolio, said: "While the current system has served us well for many years, it has not kept pace with the increasing volume and complexity of search requests. These can currently take eight weeks or more to process, so this investment is a vital step towards meeting our residents' needs by achieving our service standard of turning around requests in 10 working days. Buying and selling a house can be a stressful experience and this investment will ensure we provide a smooth, efficient and quick service during that time."
The Council's project is wide-ranging, involving the Land Charges team and other departments such as Planning, Building Control and IT. It will see the conversion of all existing data into a new single digital format, making access to the right information at the right time easier and speeding up the service for residents.
The new system will also help the Council prepare for HM Land Registry's project to provide an online portal for a national Local Land Charges Register service.
Councillor Daren Pemberton added: "The new software, from specialist supplier Idox, is due to go live before the end of this year. The implementation project has already identified new ways historical data can be further enhanced in terms of accessibility and updates, and we are committed to a programme of continuous improvement beyond the launch of the new system. During the implementation period there will be additional pressure on service delivery, but the team has identified this new system and the process improvements it supports as the most effective route to ensuring the Land Charges service is fit for the future."
More information about the Land Charges service can be found at www.stratford.gov.uk/landcharges.
