Greenwich Watch

Just got back from Greenwich University to see an architecture degree show and popped into the Tourist Information Centre where I get my fix of leaflets on whats on. I picked up the News Shopper which we never get delivered and when I got home was delighted to see an article about a new website called Greenwich Watch. The website which also uses Blogger (an easy and free way for everyone to create a website) says of its raison d'etre:

Why did we feel we needed to run a blog dedicated to watching Greenwich Council? Well we're long standing residents of the borough and we felt that the Council had become somewhat autocratic, and it seemed to spend a lot of time spinning. We rarely saw the Council seriously held to account in the local press and we felt that we could have more impact on the web than in any other way.

... from About Us on greenwichwatch.blogspot.com

The site is anonymous and allows anonymous comments so that you can post or email "any news, rumours or gossip about Greenwich Council, its work and its councillors... We'll do our best to publish what the local press can't."

The site is well written and well laid out thus setting extremely high standards for community journalism. I hope its main impact will be to alert local activists and campaigners to understanding the role such web tools will be playing in local matters.