WEST Devon Borough Council's website celebrates its first anniversary this month.

Since it re-launched in February 2013 the site has had over 75,000 unique visitors, 10,000 of these were in August alone.

Residents accessing the website from mobile devices and tablets have fuelled the rise. There has been an 87% increase in mobile device and tablets accessing the council website and in January, 27% of all website visits were via mobile devices and tablets.

Darren Cole, head of ICT and customer services, said: 'This is a great start for our website and we are using the feedback from customers to continually improve the user experience and respond to customers' needs and expectations.'

Recent updates to the website include new 'swipable' areas for touch-enabled devices such as tablets and mobile phones, making the pages more mobile-friendly.

The search function is now more intelligent and returns more focussed results for those using it.

 Waste and recycling information on the 'Where You Live' page now displays the normal collection day, next collection date and collection type.

Leader of West Devon Borough Council, Cllr Phillip Sanders, said: 'I am really delighted that our investment in the technology that has allowed us to completely remodel our website has proved so successful.

'The usage figures clearly show that we are now delivering a service which meets the needs of our residents. As we move to delivering more of our services via digital means people of all generations will be able to access these at a time convenient to them rather than traditional office hours.'

To have a look at the website go to http://www.westdevon.gov.uk">www.westdevon.gov.uk