Far North fourth in website rankings

The Far North District Council's website has been ranked fourth out of 78 local authorities across New Zealand.

The ranking by the Association of Local Government Information Management (ALGIM) was announced at a recent national website symposium.  The rankings were determined by a panel of independent web experts commissioned by the ALGIM.

The council website has consistently been ranked inside the top 20 in New Zealand in recent years and in the majority of cases has been placed within the top ten. The only councils ahead of the Far North in the ALGIM awards this year were New Plymouth, Porirua and Tasman.

The council has also ranked highly in previous years in the People's Choice divisions which are judged by its peers. The Far North website and intranet received the Best Redeveloped Website award in 2009 and the Best New Feature Intranet award in 2008. The council did not contest the People's Choice divisions this year.

Business Performance and IT Manager Victoria Begbie said today the placing close to the top in New Zealand and the consistent performances at a national level were a credit to the staff responsible for maintaining and improving the site. The council was committed to a programme of continuous improvements to the benefit of the end users, she said.