COUNCILS PARTICIPATE IN 24-HOUR SOCIAL MEDIA CELEBRATION SHOWCASING VITAL LOCAL GOVERNMENT SERVICES

#OurDay, the annual social media event run by the Local Government Association (LGA), will take place over 24 hours today in order to celebrate the work that local council officers do to improve the lives of their communities and make them thrive.

The event will run from midnight on 19 November on Twitter and Facebook with an aim to demonstrate the efforts of local council officers that often go unnoticed within the community.

Over the last year, collectively, councils have looked after over 75,000 vulnerable children, provided homes for over 1.6 million households, managed around 23,900 miles of A-road, issued around 180 million books and prevented £42.6 million in harm to consumers through trading standard services.

Residents are also five times more likely to trust their local councillors than members of parliament to make decisions.

#OurDay will highlight how councils are keeping valued local services running, as well as developing innovative and exciting schemes to improve the daily lives for all of their residents.

Now in its eighth year, #OurDay has a reach of over 25 million people. Last year on Twitter alone, #OurDay trended at number one in the UK for the majority of the day and fourth worldwide, with 11,000 contributors posting almost 40,000 tweets.

Cllr Peter Fleming, Chairman of the LGA’s Improvement and Innovation Board, said:
“Local councils are best placed to deliver the services their communities depend on and #OurDay is a chance to reflect on 24 hours in the life of a council.

“Council officers are often the unsung heroes ensuring that residents have the best advice and access to all services provided by a council. We’re excited that some of the stories behind the huge variety of vital services that the council provides every day will be heard.
“Councils are the most efficient, open and transparent part of the public sector and we’re looking forward to being part of the #OurDay conversation and hearing from residents on Facebook and Twitter.”