BOURNEMOUTH, Christchurch and Poole Council will receive £34,000 to add extra functionality to their new application.

Councils have responded to the coronavirus pandemic by rapidly introducing innovative new ways of serving their communities, which includes the BCP Beach Check App, developed by the council in a bid to reduce crowding on parts of the area’s beaches.

BCP Beach Check provides information on how busy particular sections of the seafront are, as well as information about where to find nearby facilities.

This new funding from the Local Digital Collaboration Unit at Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government through the Local Digital Covid-19 Challenge, will help ensure councils continue to modernise and improve the way they deliver public services.

The special edition of the Local Digital Fund opened for bids on July 1 2020 and only 11 projects out of 125 applications were selected to receive funding.

Members of BCP Council are delighted to see that their efforts at harnessing digital technology to tackle some of the issues raised by the pandemic have been recognised.

Leader of BCP Council, Councillor Vikki Slade said: "We are very proud of the BCP Beach Check app - which has been downloaded 12,000 times in just five days - and grateful to the wider team that’s developed and delivered it so quickly. The funds awarded will be reinvested to further develop the functionality of the app: automating and increasing the frequency of the data collected from its current level of three times per day to enable real-time updates and additional accuracy.

"With the help of this app and the additional measures and plans we’ve put in place for this summer, we are hugely excited to welcome the return of all visitors who wish to respect, protect and enjoy our beautiful resort."