Camden Council has made a push towards becoming more transparent by committing to a new Open Data Charter.
The charter will make the council ‘open by default’, meaning that Camden will now publish its data openly unless there are good reasons not to.
The aim behind the move is to encourage further interaction with the public in order to help deliver better and cheaper services.
The charter will also, the council claims, act as a reference point and clear policy position to encourage council services to publish their data.
Assurance will also be provided by the charter that open data does not override privacy and data quality concerns.
Cllr Theo Blackwell, cabinet member for finance and technology policy said:
’Camden is leading the way across in our work on technology to improve public services and save money.'
He continued: ’Now we are making our data as open and available for public and commercial use to improve transparency and local democracy as well as give new insights into Camden's environment, economy and budget-setting.’
Other local authorities at the forefront of Open Data include Bath, and North East Somerset and Leeds who both have open data policies.
