THE two members of staff who run the district council's website have been praised for their work by a professional ICT association.

The Society of Information Technology Managers (SOCITM) has rated the authority's internet site as one of the top nine of shire district councils in the country.

The council was praised for the ease with which residents can access services via the site, along with the way it used the homepage to deliver information during the severe snow storms earlier this year.

Councillor Di Collins, Leader of Epping Forest District Council, said: “This is great news. Councillors looked at website resourcing last year.

"Even then we were doing remarkably well within limited means but we recognised online information is the future and agreed on the need to invest in it. This survey goes to show what dedicated and skilled professional staff can achieve.”

Until late last year only one person worked on the website.