The information below details some of the work we have carried out
as a result of the things which you have told us are important to you.

Education Services

Acting on feedback from citizens, parents and carers are now able to apply on-line for all 2007/08 school admissions. In addition to this we have provided qualifying information on free school meals and bus passes which is available on the Internet. This information can be accessed in the related links section on the right of the page.

Tackling Anti-Social Behaviour

Following concern about anti-social behaviour the ‘It’s your call’ campaign was launched in September 2005. Leaflets promoting the service have been distributed to 133,000 households across the district and posters have been displayed in community locations. New credit card sized information cards are now available at all local libraries. For more information see the related links section.

Can we influence decisions?

Recruitment to a new Citizens Panel took place in January 2006; it now consists of around 1200 members from across the district.  The panel is being used to test new ideas and initiatives and improve the way we deliver our services. The Panel also helps us to take your views and expectations into account when making decisions.

We have also increased the production of ‘The Citizen’ from 3 to 6 issues per year to maximise opportunities to feedback the work we are doing.

Improving our places

A delivery plan is in place to tackle a range of fly tipping issues.  In addition to this an awareness campaign is currently underway. The profile of hot spot areas is being raised through the use of the internet and we are promoting the use of local waste carriers by advertising their services through leaflet drops and local publications.

Illegal waste carriers are also being targeted through partnership working with the Police, VOSA (Vehicle Standards Operation Agency) and the Environment agency. 

We also introduced Neighbourhood Patrollers to the district in January 2004 in response to feedback from the public.

New Children’s Play Co-ordinators have been employed and we have recruited an external Consultancy to carry out an audit on all current play facilities. They will be looking at standards of equipment and facilities and identifying areas where we to improve.  From this information a ‘Play Plan’ will be written and this should be completed by August 2007.

Accessing and using the Council's website

Following feedback from citizens the Wakefield MDC public website has been designed to make it more user-friendly and went live in June 2006.  A staff website user group has been formed and is looking at on-going improvements.

Contacting the Council

The council is committed to providing excellent services and customer care, which has led to the introduction of anew Customer relationship Management system.  The principle of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is to improve processes and people to deliver excellent customer services to the customer.

We have implemented a new system at the Council’s Contact Centre to improve call handling and service delivery. In addition to this the Council has joined the Institute of Customer Services to support staff in delivering effective customer care to all its citizens.

Youth Voice Panel

Following a vote by members the Wakefield Young People’s Panel has now been re-named and is know as ‘Youth Voice’.

In addition, following feedback from members, the issues raised will be used to develop a new page for children and young people on the Children’s Information Service’s website.  Once this has been completed we will provide you with details of the link.

Parks and open spaces

Feedback from citizens showed that Natural Areas are valued highly by the public so we have set targets within the new Local Area Agreement for the designation of six new Local Nature Reserves by 2009.  These will be situated near to deprived areas.

We have continued to improve green spaces, creating new facilities such as the innovative Pugneys Activity for All Trim Trail (for people of all ages and abilities): Ossett Skate Park; and new equipped play areas at Eastmoor and South Heindley.

The award of a Green Flag this summer is national recognition of the recent Design and Management improvements to The Green (a local park in Castleford).