NEARLY a quarter of all council payments and forms are now done online, and thousands more people are logging on to its website.

Colchester Council launched a range of online options in 2014, which have grown in popularity.

In the first half of this year 2,000 more people made payments via the website, instead of over the phone or in person, than the same period in 2014.

In June, the council’s website had 500,000 page views, up from 340,000 in April 2014.

This spring, new e-newsletters were launched, which now have more than 20,000 subscribers.

Leisure World also launched an app to book classes, which now sees more than 1,500 transactions a month.

Leader of the council Paul Smith said: “In only a year our focus on transforming the council’s services so they are more user-friendly and cost effective has shown significant results.

“The approach is already helping realise big savings in how we deliver our services, potentially up to £1million over three years, better enabling us to target resources at support our more vulnerable customers.”