The Local Government Association is in talks with the Ordnance Survey (OS) over its proposed new business model, and is ‘hopeful’ it can negotiate simpler licencing agreements for councils.
The Government announced last month that, following a review of the OS, the mixed-model, where the OS has partly a ‘public good’ function, partly a commercial function, would continue.
However, housing minister, Iain Wright, said costs such as licencing fees would be ‘brought down over time’. Wright claimed the business strategy would ‘balance the need to maintain the highest-quality standards with the need to stimulate innovation in the geographical information market’.
Tim Allen, the LGA’s programme director for analysis and research, said: ‘The combined model feels good. But there is disappointment that we have not clearly defined what the public good purpose of the OS is.’
The association wanted address information to be made freely available. ‘It’s curious that data on streets and addresses, much of which is collected by local authorities, is not made available by the OS in the same way that national statistics are,’ he said.
The LGA said it would continue talking to the OS, as part of its consultation on its draft business strategy, which proposed ‘aligning methods of data capture and provision to ensure efficiency for the public purse’.
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