Lucky five residents win council tax on Local Life website

Five lucky Royal Borough residents have won the cash equivalent of their 2010/11 council tax, thanks to a free prize draw on the council's community website, Local Life https://locallife.rbwm.gov.uk

All residents who signed up to pay their council tax online after the launch of Local Life in December were entered into the draw and the five lucky winners selected at random were:
• Darren Foreman, Maidenhead
• Mark Sim, Windsor
• Gary Cox, Maidenhead
• Katy Yates, Maidenhead
• Ruben Vilhena, Maidenhead.

Nick Hardwick, Business Services Manager, congratulated the winners and said they were doing their bit to help the council reduce running costs. He explained: "The more residents who use the council's online services the more we can reduce our running costs. For example, it costs £27,000 a year to produce our annual council tax bills in March.

"Our winners signed up for online billing through the Local Life website and we hope we can encourage many more to follow their great example."

Local Life gives residents greater access to council information and services and also allows them to create an online community for their local area. It enables people to:
• directly express their views and report problems like potholes and broken street furniture
• sign up for electronic council tax billing and payments
• take part in online discussions about issues in their local street, ward or area
• be part of consultations and surveys
• personalise their web pages to find and share information about services, facilities and events
• access information feeds about subjects of interest to them.

The website was developed in reponse to residents' comments about improving access to council services and creating a real sense of online community.

Access Local Life at https://locallife.rbwm.gov.uk. Registration is free and easy to set up.

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