Another smart town in the making

December 6, 2016

·

3 min read

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council recently commissioned UrbanTide to support the development of a smart city digital strategy for Basingstoke.

Artists impression of smart city street and buildings

“Basingstoke is a vibrant town with a strong economy that punches above its weight.”
— Economic Master Plan for Basingstoke 2033

Basingstoke is the primary settlement within Basingstoke and Deane, a borough in Hampshire, South East England. It is an important economic centre with great transport links to London, the Midlands and the south coast.

The town offers fantastic retail, leisure opportunities, high-quality housing and is also recognised as an excellent place for inward investment - Local Futures ranked Basingstoke in the top three local authority areas in the country to base a business in. Major employers include: Sony, AXA Wealth (now Phoenix Wealth), Sainsbury’s, Barclays, the AA, Motorola, Fujitsu and many more.

Basingstoke has a population of just over 100,000 people and is growing.

The key priorities within the Council Plan 2016 - 2020 are:

preparing for controlled and sustainable growth;
improving residents’ quality of life; and supporting those that need it.

These priorities are underpinned by a cross-cutting theme to drive efficiency, use technology to improve customer access, speed up processes, transactions, and decisions and to enter into partnerships and service delivery arrangements that improve service and reduce cost.

So where does UrbanTide fit in?

For this project, we are using our tried and tested Smart Cities Maturity Model. This was developed in partnership with the Scottish Government and Scottish Cities Alliance and is based on research from a wide range of smart cities theory, including BSI PAS 181 Smart City Framework, Boyd Cohen and International Data Corporation (IDC). UrbanTide has also tested this approach in practice with all 7 cities across Scotland, Renfrewshire Council, Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council and the City of Newcastle in Australia. It has been used more widely by other smart cities experts.

With this tool, we gather qualitative and quantitative data to identify where the council currently sits and where it wants to be on the smart city/ digital maturity scale. The model assesses the strategic approach the Council could consider when developing its smart city agenda.

Engagement

Significant consultation with interested stakeholders is central to the success of this project. We aim to engage with stakeholders as much as feasibly possible to gather information that aids us in reviewing current and potential future needs.

The Future is Bright, the Future is Smart

We are excited to be part of Smart Basingstoke from a very early stage and to be working with Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council and other partners on this exciting agenda. Keep your eyes peeled for more updates as we progress with this project.

_{Image credit: www.basingstokebiz.com, www.hampshireconferencebureau.co.uk}