Worthing and Adur councillors vote to give themselves iPads

11:50am Friday 21st December 2012 in News

Councillors will get iPads at a cost of £20,000.

Worthing and Adur councils suggested the move for all their elected members as part of plans to go “paper-free”.

It claims giving politicians the hand-held gadgets, which can be used to read documents and watch videos, will save money and be more environmentally-friendly.

The plan was ratified at a meeting of full council, with Worthing Borough Council leader Paul Yallop among those to trial it.

It is expected to be rolled out in February.

Worthing borough councillor Michael Cloake said: “We are living in a technological world and the benefits of not being left behind far outweigh the short-term capital outlay in favour of significant savings, reduction in ongoing costs and, not least, reducing the council’s environmental impact.”

Coun Cloake said a similar move in Scarborough, which is a similar size to Worthing, had saved £62,500 in less than a year.

He added further money would be saved on costs of office space.

When the plans were revealed earlier this year, council bosses said a laptop with a case would cost £450 compared to £290 for an iPad.

This will increase to £320 if it is the more up to date iPad3, the latest model to be released by Apple.

It claimed the maximum cost will be about £27,000 for both councils combined.

See the latest news headlines from The Argus:

More news from The Argus

Follow @brightonargus

Daily Echo on Facebook - facebook.com/southerndailyecho Like us on Facebook

Google+ Add us to your circles on Google+

Comments(12)

Crystal Ball says...
12:05pm Fri 21 Dec 12

More opportunities to watch YouTube, mess about with Facebog (sic) and browse Amazon instead of serving the residents. All at the taxpayer's expense too.

Report this post »

Ballroom Blitz says...
1:00pm Fri 21 Dec 12

iPads are completely useless for anything other than browsing the Internet, watching videos or playing games. As a mobile office tool they are a non starter. I know. I have got one, and it doesn't replace my laptop.
Get them cheap laptops, which will be of more use than a trendy I thing. And cheaper.

Report this post »

markiemark1 says...
1:05pm Fri 21 Dec 12

Let's face it, Worthing Borough Council need to get back to basics. Their IT failure earlier this month left essential services in a desperate situation, and this needs to be addressed before fancy gizmos for Councillors, many of whom will have no idea how to use it. As I understand it the things will only work where there is a WiFi network, i.e. in the Town Hall or at home, so what is the point? Apart from costing us taxpayers £20K or so.

Report this post »

Chieftain11 says...
1:25pm Fri 21 Dec 12

There must be some new young minds around in Adur council ? This is a groundbreaking move ! There are some in that lot who would still be using slate and chalk !

Report this post »

Barry Trotter says...
1:34pm Fri 21 Dec 12

Paperfree!
I thought that stupid idea was dead and buried in the nineties.

Report this post »

toldsloth says...
1:48pm Fri 21 Dec 12

I can guarantee their IT dept is not looking forward to having to support all of this nonsense. So are they banned from updating them indivdually? Are they allowed to let the kids loose on them? It's a waste of time trying to use them for Office applications and this is coming from a confirmed "gadget - man" who owns one. Not only that but Apple ride roughshod over any security on a network. Somebody has decided this will be a "good thing" but the practicalities of actually implementing and supporting this technology hasn't been taken into account. Oh and by the way, Apples come with 90 days support so you will need to purchase an Apple Support Pack and add another £100 to the cost of the unit itself. WASTE OF MONEY PEOPLE!

Report this post »

Cyclic says...
2:30pm Fri 21 Dec 12

I am involved in designing infrastructure to support iPads and all manner of tablets in a corporate environment. It is very difficult and very expensive to support and secure. A total waste of money to buy and a huge financial burden to support. I bet they will soon be dropped. (both literally and metaphorically).

Report this post »

lorrie1 says...
4:52pm Fri 21 Dec 12

Enviromental reasons. Yeah right, save a few trees and spend a fourtune on electric, which costs more! Good Decision!!!

Report this post »

inadaptado says...
5:03pm Fri 21 Dec 12

Isn't it amusing how the Argus never fails to remind us that Brighton has a Green council when they publish something negative about them, but conveniently forgets to mention that both Worthing and Aldur are Conservative?

Report this post »

Morpheus says...
7:11pm Fri 21 Dec 12

Ballroom Blitz wrote:
iPads are completely useless for anything other than browsing the Internet, watching videos or playing games. As a mobile office tool they are a non starter. I know. I have got one, and it doesn't replace my laptop.
Get them cheap laptops, which will be of more use than a trendy I thing. And cheaper.
But they are perfect for reading documents and for emails.

Report this post »

ben1390 says...
11:08pm Fri 21 Dec 12

Argus, the iPad 4 is out you know...

Report this post »

Maxwell's Ghost says...
11:01am Sat 22 Dec 12

We find them a fantastic tool in the workplace. Cheap, saves hours of photocopying, light, can be used by anyone intuitively so no messing about finding folders etc, saves thousands on printing meeting papers, you can physically pass them around a tabke to show images instead of setting up projectors etc and as every young person had one there is always someone around to help out unlike with the variety of laptops, operating systems etc
We've found that IT can focus on more important issues rather than messing about with frozen screen laptops which also weigh a ton and are just cumbersome.
I use both, the laptop is good at home but tablets and iPads are a fantastic tool in the office.
Different uses and benefits.

Report this post »

click2find

About cookies

We want you to enjoy your visit to our website. That's why we use cookies to enhance your experience. By staying on our website you agree to our use of cookies. Find out more about the cookies we use.

I agree