Newport residents may in future be able to WhatsApp council

South Wales Argus

2 days ago

That's one of the ambitions set out by council leader Dimitri Batrouni as he seeks to transform the local authority into an organisation fit for the future.
'My ideal is people's engagement with the council is pretty much automated, 24/7. So people can ask something they want to know at any time, and the system gives them the answer. It's all about convenience,' said Cllr Batrouni.
The idea is in the early stages but it's something he would like to see tried out before the next council elections in 2028.
Cllr Batrouni favours WhatsApp or a similar platform because while not everyone uses the internet, most people are comfortable with messaging.
'We were speaking to a company this morning which was talking about WhatsApp, and I really like that proposal. I want to explore and see if it works, and we might just do a trial, but WhatsApp is just so easy for all generations.'
He stressed that human interaction remains important.
'We will always have that face-to-face element, there will always have an ability for someone to speak to human being. But in the future. I don't know if 11.30pm, and you have a panic if it's been day tomorrow, rather than going to go trawling through the website, what I would love you be able to do just WhatsApp the council, the council. You know, within five seconds, 'actually, don't worry, your bin day is Friday'.'
Cllr Batrouni was speaking during a wide-ranging interview with the Argus to mark him having been at the helm of the city council for just over a year, having taken over from Jane Mudd after she was elected Gwent Police and Crime Commissioner in 2024.
His first year in post was about focusing on fixing the basics, he said, the things that regularly annoyed the people he was talking to.
'I've nearly visited every single school, spoke to every head teacher, visited staff to see frontline issues,' he said. 'I went out on the refuse truck to see what it's like collecting bins. I went on street cleaning. I've gone on grass cutting. I've gone out front line to listen to people who deal with frontline services that residents really, really care about.
Newport City Council leader Dimitri Batrouni visits a city school alongside deputy leader Cllr Deb Davies. (Image: Newport City Council)
'I wanted so my first six months was about listening, then I acted. What you saw on the budget is a response to what I've heard. 'We want extra grass cutting because the grass is too long', 'We want more road resurfacing because there was too many potholes', 'We want the street lights back on, because we don't feel safe at night'.
'Those bread-and-butter issues I called it, and that's why I call it the bread-and-butter budget, because that's what it focused on, doing what people were asking us to do. We got on with painting and cleaning the minimum footbridge we've got on with cleaning the clock tower. We listened and then acted.'
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Now, Cllr Batrouni wants to look forward, harnessing technology including artificial intelligence to provide better services.
'There are huge benefits to residents, to taxpayers, by getting this right,' he said, while acknowledging handling of sensitive data needed to be done very carefully. 'If you get it right, you can streamline to make it more convenient for residents, but also a highly efficient organisation.'
He added: "When I say efficient, I also mean for staff, not losing staff, but staff being able to concentrate their time on higher added-value stuff, because they're not dealing with operational stuff that systems can do these days.
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'It won't mean job big job losses. What it does mean, though, is change. We cannot operate as we are. The world's moving so fast in this space.'
When asked when residents would see the difference, Cllr Batrouni asked people to be patient for now.
'You have to build the fundamentals first,' he said. 'This is the not exciting bit but you have to integrate and merge your systems. You have to make them be able to speak to each other. You have to ensure the data is clean. You have to get those building blocks absolutely spot on, because only when you have that base, you get all the nice, whizzy stuff that people start to notice.'
This is part one of the Argus interview with Cllr Batrouni. We will be running a series of articles in the coming days.