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Castle Morpeth is the gateway to
Northumberland, with the ancient market town of Morpeth
at its centre. The borough comprises a mainly rural
area of some 629 sq km, stretching from Matfen in the
south-west to Druridge Bay in the north-east, with 49,000
residents.
The district of Alnwick lies in the
heart of Northumberland, and is one of the most rural
and sparsely populated districts in UK, with a population
of about 32,000. The two councils operate a shared IT
team that supports 600 users across six sites. They
are always looking for ways to provide improved and
more cost-effective services to their residents. As
part of this they decided to implement a new CRM system
across the two boroughs. Deployment of the system began
in February 2008 and it is already delivering more efficient
handling of customer communications as well as more
transparency throughout the lifecycle of key business
processes.
At Castle Morpeth, the services covered
include forms handling and distribution, general enquiries,
household waste management, bulky item collection, pest
control, planning control and licensing of taxis. Alnwick
chose different areas for the first phase of its rollout,
covering such things as housing repairs, tourism processes,
job applications, pest control and the management of
wheelie bins.
The region is currently undergoing
a review of its local government structure. From April
2009, a Northumberland-wide unitary authority will be
formed from Castle Morpeth Borough Council, Wansbeck
District Council, Blyth Valley District Council, Tynedale
Council, Berwick Upon Tweed Borough Council and Alnwick
District Council.
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