Residents and businesses can now access over 200 sets of local information for free through Calderdale Council’s dedicated website, which could help make a difference to their lives and support business opportunities.
Calderdale DataWorks provides ‘open data’ – free information published in an accessible format with a licence that allows anyone to access, use and share it.
Cllr Jane Scullion, Calderdale Council’s Cabinet Member for Resources, Performance and Business Change, said:
“We’re really pleased to have reached the 200 datasets milestone just two years after launching the web page. Through Calderdale DataWorks we want to encourage openness, efficiency, innovation and economic growth. It saves time by publishing frequently requested information; enables other organisations to use the Council’s data; and gives local people an insight into how the Council works, how we’re performing and what we’re spending.”
The huge range of information covers school data, business rates, elections, parking, libraries, environmental health, defibrillators, grant-funded projects, air quality and much more.
You might be thinking about applying for a school place for your child, you could be from a local organisation making a bid for grants or funding, or maybe you’re a property developer looking for empty buildings in Calderdale – you can find information to help you with all of this and more in one handy place: https://dataworks.calderdale.gov.uk/
Calderdale DataWorks can even help local people to be more physically active, supporting the Council’s ambition for Calderdale to be the most active borough in the North. The Council is working with the Open Data Institute (ODI) and Sport England to make data openly available on opportunities to move more across the borough – from the availability of sports classes and the location of football pitches, to information on parks and allotments.
Another new feature is the more detailed information about Calderdale, such as ward and neighbourhood profiles, population and public health data. The information is interactive, so people can view it in the way that’s best for them.
The Council has also created a number of interactive dashboards to bring the data to life, to explore the Council’s performance in more depth and see other examples of how open data is being used in the projects section.
The Council has also developed the site to enable data to be published from a range of other organisations, including the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Northern Powergrid and Citizens Advice Calderdale. Other local publishers are welcome to get involved and share ideas for other sets of data that could be published.
The Council is also working closely with partners at ODI Leeds(external link) on a range of innovative projects based on key priorities such as flooding, highways, transport and air quality.