Wigan Council pledges to be at the forefront of a digital revolution following AI Summit

From the fettlers to the makers, miners, and manufacturers, Wigan Borough has a proud industrial past, and with AI tipped to bring about a digital revolution, town hall leaders want the borough to become a leader in our industrial future.

Aware of the opportunities and advances that artificial intelligence may bring, Wigan Council held an AI Summit and Roundtable at Civic on Friday, 13 January, along with Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, Josh Simons MP, and representatives from the NHS, Wigan and Leigh College, Edge Hill University, Heinz, and Agilisys.

With Wigan Council first using artificial intelligence within adult social care and children services, the collaborative event was held to see how else the local authority and its partners can use the technology to improve residents’ day-to-day lives.

Councillor Nazia Rehman, portfolio holder for Finance, Resources, and Transformation, said: “As a council, we have long embraced technology as a way to support residents and improve our public services, and now we want to embrace the incoming AI revolution to bring even more benefits to our residents, businesses, and organisations.

“With the council’s innovative digital strategy and collaborative partnership work, I believe that we can unlock further economic potential and make our borough an economically attractive place for employers and outside investment.

“This will not only help to bring more jobs and investment into the borough, it will also help to provide significant employment and development opportunities in a highly-skilled sector that will be an essential part of our future.”

With Wigan Council first developing a robust ethical policy and framework in which to deploy AI safely, it started to use artificial intelligence to assist staff in adult social care from 2023. This brought about great success in terms of reducing workloads and administrative burdens, streamlining processes, and helping frontline staff spend more time with residents rather than paperwork.

Following these positive results, AI tools were subsequently rolled out in children services and there are plans to introduce the software in the council’s housing department to assist with backlogs, improve tenant services, and analyse maintenance and repair issues. An AI Academy has also seen the launch of 30 Apprenticeships to help develop the skills for the future locally.

With the potential to use AI across further sectors, such as manufacturing, transport, and education, town hall leaders recognise the benefits the technology could bring to a borough that is already gearing up for a new future, with multiple regeneration projects on the go.

Further encouraged by the government’s announcement of AI Growth Zones last year, Wigan Council is eager to be at the forefront of this initiative to unlock investment and software capacity, while also building partnerships to combat unregulated use and ensure that the technology is used ethically and as a force for good.

Leader of Wigan Council, Councillor David Molynuex MBE, said: “Wigan Borough has a long and proud history of being at the forefront of industrial technology, and we now want to make sure that we are at the forefront of AI and digital technologies.

“We are very ambitious as a council and working together with partners across Greater Manchester, I’m confident that we can harness the power of AI, create high-quality jobs, and attract outside investment so that we can be proud of our industrial future.”