Residents in Barking and Dagenham are facing increasing challenges with digital exclusion, making it difficult for them to access essential council services and information. Concerns were raised during a recent Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting about the effectiveness of communication channels, particularly for older residents and those without internet access.
Councillor Ingrid Robinson highlighted the need for more accessible information, suggesting that traditional methods might be necessary for some residents. Remember, we have older people, so they can't go online to look at it,
she stated. Councillor Julia Williams echoed these concerns, pointing out that a significant portion of the borough's population is not online. She elaborated, there are lots of people in the borough who are not online. But also amongst some residents, there's a mistrust of electronic communications. They still prefer to deal with official bodies using paper and face-to-face meetings.
This indicates that services requiring online access or relying on electronic communication are particularly difficult for this group to access.
To reach digitally excluded residents, traditional communication methods are being considered. Councillor Robinson suggested exploring options like Yellow Pages or something like, you know, the old Yellow Pages so that everybody knows what's going on?
Councillor Williams also mentioned the preference for paper and face-to-face meetings
and noted the potential for initiatives like phone surveys and things like that and possibly being able to get parking permits by paper.
These issues were discussed in the context of the council's Corporate Plan performance report and the ongoing implementation of the Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) strategy. While the council is exploring new communication tools, such as the 'Loki' app, councillors stressed the importance of not alienating residents who are not digitally connected.
Councillor Ben Suter inquired about the potential use of the 'Loki' app for direct communication with residents. He noted that it provides free services for the council to use, but runs on a purely ad basis,
suggesting it would give the council a free platform right to people's phones.
The council is currently investigating the app, with our head of comms and our director of customer experience are, well, meeting them imminently to discuss and doing some due diligence as well just to make sure there's no catches around.
The app has not been scrapped but is just being investigated.
These discussions underscore the ongoing challenges faced by residents in navigating digital services and accessing vital information, highlighting a need for a multi-channel communication approach that caters to all segments of the community. The Public reports pack for the Wednesday 09 September 2026 Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting provides further details on these discussions. Public reports pack