WEST Devon Borough Council celebrated #OurDay, a yearly tweetathon for local government to show what happens in a typical day, on November 15.

Last year, more than 8,500 people took part across the UK, tweeting about what they do in the course of their working day to support their local communities. 

Cllr Philip Sanders, Leader of West Devon Borough Council said: ‘Our officers work incredibly hard every day and a lot of what they do never gets noticed. All of this is very important to the running of our council and it’s great to have a day to thank them.’

Throughout the day, the council shared information about what was going on behind the doors at Kilworthy Park and across the borough.

From planning and licensing to street cleaning, promoting food recycling and enabling new and affordable homes, officers shared their working day with followers.

Throughout the day, the Ccuncil also shared some key facts about services, these included: 

The fact that West Devon’s population is 54,200, there are 25,328 households and the area covers 1160 sq km of land.

The Customer Contact Centre receives over 25,000 calls a month.

Officers prevented 283 households from becoming homeless and rehoused 167 families through Devon Home Choice.

There are over 450 tasks that residents and customers can perform on the council’s website for themselves.

6,000 West Devon residents are members of the leisure centres.

45% of West Devon is in Dartmoor National Park.

93 Disabled Facilities Grant allocations have been completed this year.

This year 560 dog patrols were conducted (and counting).

Okehampton Customer Contact Centre saw 1,039 visitors last month.

Cllr Sanders continued: ‘We are sharing more of what we do with our followers on social media. Social media is a great way for residents to keep in touch with us, and it means we can share information instantly. If there’s an issue or if we have news to share, you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter and keep up-to-date.

‘We continually share service issues, alerting residents if we are unable to collect recycling and waste when vehicles can’t gain access, and we also share weather warnings in instances of flooding. Follow us and be the first to know about our services which could be of help to you.

‘If social media is not for you, the council has also recently set up a new email alert system, where residents can sign up on our website for alerts on subjects which interest them.”

Follow @WestDevon_BC on Twitter.