Donegal County Council has introduced a new and innovative way to allow the public to have their say through the new MyDonegalPlace crowdsourcing app.
It comes as the public consultation process begins for the new Plan for Letterkenny gets underway this week.
MyDonegalPlace is a map-based application and has been developed by Donegal County Council as part of the NPA funded IMPROVE project which is all about exploring how best to facilitate and encourage user participation in the development of public services.
Senior Planner with Donegal County Council, Eunan Quinn explains they are always looking to improve the planning service in a way that engages the public and public opinion.
“This is another avenue to reach out and to crowdsource information in an innovative way and this information can be vital to the continual enhanced development of the county”.
“Users can simply put a point on the map and they can share local knowledge. For example if you know of a local field name, this information can be placed on the map and uploaded along with an image, or if you know of a local place with historic or cultural importance, this too can be captured on the map”.
“You can also explore the information gathered on the site and comment on it or vote for it. It’s a very interactive process for the social gathering of information and for social commentary”.
Brian Boyle, Head of information Systems believes that innovative spatial solutions allow us to explore ways of increasing participation in local democracy and decisions saying “developing and exploring avenues of engaging with the public through enhanced e-services increases efficiencies and presents effective services. With the increased availability of High Speed Broadband and mobile 4G coverage, our range of e-services, need to be compatible and available 24/7 for both desktop and mobile users.”
Consultations started this week on informing the preparation of a Plan for Letterkenny and the ambition is that the town will grow its population to +35,000 people and will offer all the ingredients of a future city including employment, housing choice, high quality of life, a vibrant town centre, community and social amenities and positive public and civic space.
While the plan is for Letterkenny it will have a county wide and regional impact particularly as Letterkenny has been identified as a regional centre in the Government’s National Planning Framework and as a strategic part of the North West City Region.
The Plan will contain a suite of policies and objectives supported by land use zoning that will guide the development of Letterkenny and will identify and prioritise the essential infrastructure and investment needed to support the planned growth.
The MyDonegalPlace app provides the public with an additional platform to engage with the Council and to help inform future plans and policies.
The app is available at http://bit.ly/MyDonegalPlace.
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