UK councils are renowned for their woolly thinking, an inability to spend money on anything even remotely sensible and an obsession with form filling. And yes, this is a huge generalisation but one we're sticking with as it helps to emphasise the potentially useful nature of our App of the Day.

So, you needn't worry any longer as this app for the iPhone brings the opportunity for councils to ignore you in a whole new 21st century way...

Looking Local

Format

iOS

Price

Free

Where

iTunes

This public sector iPhone app gives people across the UK immediate and intuitive access to local councils, housing associations and a wide range of other public sector organisations.

One of the key functions of the app is the "Report It" feature which enables the user to report a wide variety of issues which the council should be taking responsibility for; areas covered include: dumped rubbish, graffiti, potholes and road repairs, street lighting faults, street furniture damage, abandoned vehicles and anti-social behaviour.

The GPS functionality of your iPhone will mean you can highlight where the problem is and attach photos as well as comments so that the relevant organisation/department can leap into action on your behalf.

In addition to the reporting functionality the Looking Local app gives access to local services provided by over 125 partner organisations; these include choice-based lettings, repair reporting, news and events, local health services and listings, as well as nationwide job searching from Jobcentre Plus and information from NHS Choices.

Steve Langrick from Kirklees Council (who own Looking Local) says:

“Looking Local has been publishing public sector services on mobile phones for over four years now, so we felt it important to extend our offer for the smartphone, with an initial ‘app’ for the iPhone. This now means that our 125+ public sector partners can use the app to deliver their services without needing to incur expensive development costs or duplicate resource and effort”.

We may have been a little harsh in our introduction, as the app does seem like a good idea, and if anything should decrease stress levels as you'll be able to see a problem and act on it straight away.

It's free to download, and if you've used the app be sure to let us know what you think in the comments below.