The launch of the Isle of Wight council’s new £765,000 Website has been delayed after already being plagued with Covid-19 related setbacks it was claimed at the corporate scrutiny committee last night (Tuesday).
While progress has been made on the Website, and the project moves into the third phase, it was already 18 months behind schedule.
The task of building the new Website started in 2020 and just three months in the Covid pandemic struck.
Beta site paused
The aim of launching a development, or Beta, site by September 2020 was then no longer feasible as the project team was redirected to help the pandemic response, it was claimed.
Now, with the project up and going again, the Beta site has been launched with councillors shown the new site, but the ‘go live’ date to the general public has been delayed, it was said, due to issues outside the project’s control.
It was hoped it would be rolled out this month, but speaking at last night’s corporate scrutiny committee, Claire Shand, the council’s corporate services director, said the decision was made to postpone it.
Major firewall upgrade
She gave a number of excuses – One was the recent major firewall upgrade which resulted in the council’s current Website and other IT systems being inaccessible last weekend.
Much preparation work was needed for that, Ms Shand said, so all the information on the systems was kept secure, particularly in light of an increase in cyber security threats to local authorities.
Clash with Amey’s arrangements
The other reason given for the delay was due to the council’s waste contractor, Amey, changing which company acts as its contact centre and the resulting clash in timescales.
Feedback from the Beta site testing, was said to be very promising.
Ms Shand told the committee she was feeling positive about the project and hoped it could go from strength to strength, continuously improving the site as feedback from the public is received.
Article edit
1.15pm 12th Apr 2022 – Made clear where reasons were being given.
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which News OnTheWight is taking part in. Some alterations and additions may have been made by OnTheWight. Ed
Image: Sergey Zolkin under CC BY 2.0
