“ShapeYourPlace is all about giving local people the chance to talk, discuss and suggest ideas to improve the area they call home.”

EAST Cambridgeshire’s new community website - designed to allow local people to talk, debate and highlight the issues which matter most to them most - went live online this week.

ShapeYourPlace, which began in Fenland in 2010, was officially live to the public on Thursday, with comments and issues quickly flooding in from across the district.

The site will serve as a forum for everything about the place people live and will cover five areas of East Cambridgeshire: Ely, Soham and east villages, Littleport, south villages and west villages.

The websites allows residents to instigate and join in conversations about how they can improve their local area. They can talk directly with the local councils, the police, the fire and rescue service, the health service and many other organisations about issues that affect them.

Cllr Nick Clarke, leader at Cambridgeshire County Council said: “ShapeYourPlace is all about giving local people the chance to talk, discuss and suggest ideas to improve the area they call home.

“The beauty of the website is each individual area develops a character of its own as the conversations focus on the topics or issues which matter most in that community. We have seen since ShapeYourPlace launched in Fenland how it can help develop ideas to transform communities and we are sure the impact on East Cambridgeshire will be just as successful.”

INFO: For more information go to www.shapeyourplace.org, follow www.twitter.com/shapeyourplace and visit the facebook page www.facebook.com/ShapeYourPlace.

Visitors to ShapeYourPlace – East Cambridgeshire will also be able to:

*Report issues and suggest ideas to improve their street;

*Vote in polls and take part in consultations;

*Find out what happened at the last Neighbourhood Panel;

*See what’s been reported and join in conversations with residents;

*Receive updates about how issues have been resolved;

*Write blog posts about local activities and news.