Planning and property
- How high can my boundary fence be?
- Can I build a shed without council approval?
- Which planning controls may apply to my property?
Council Knowledge Assistant
Clear council answers before residents need to call
Waybeam turns council-selected webpages, policies, plans, forms and documents into a conversational assistant embedded directly into your website.
Residents ask in plain language and receive a concise answer, the relevant council source and the right next step — at any time.
Want the ready-to-deploy product behind this solution? Explore Balakun.
Council assistant
Illustrative answers from council-selected sources
Example
Try another resident question
54%
of Darcie cases answered without staff input
Derby City Council reported that 54% of Darcie’s cases were answered without staff input after three years of operation. Darcie is available by phone and on the website. This is a public-sector reference point, not a like-for-like comparison, Waybeam forecast or guarantee.
A simpler digital front door
Residents know the question, not the council structure
Information is often distributed across webpages, policies, planning documents, forms and PDFs. Waybeam gives residents one place to ask, then connects the answer to the authoritative council source.
- Help reduce repetitive information calls and emails.
- Provide useful self-service outside council opening hours.
- Direct residents to the correct form, service or team.
- Preserve staff time for complex and case-specific enquiries.
Waste and local services
- When is my recycling bin collected?
- What can go in the green waste bin?
- How do I report a missed collection?
Trees and environment
- Do I need approval to remove a tree?
- What restrictions apply near a creek?
- Who handles a stormwater problem?
Permits and local rules
- Can I keep chickens on my property?
- Do I need a permit for a street event?
- Which council team should I contact?
How it works
Grounded answers with a controlled path to escalation
Connect trusted information
Select council webpages, policies, regulations, plans, forms and service directories, with owners approving the source set.
Answer with evidence
Residents receive clear guidance with links to the supporting council source and next step.
Improve continuously
Review unsupported questions, weak content, feedback and escalation patterns by service area.
Managed council knowledge service
Turn scattered council content into governed AI knowledge
Waybeam can collect, clean, structure and load council information into a council-specific knowledge base, with source ownership, approval and update controls defined before launch.
- Inventory webpages, policies, plans, forms and PDFs.
- Remove duplicates and flag conflicting guidance or sources due for review.
- Attach source, owner, review date and audience metadata.
- Schedule refreshes and retain clear content provenance.
Public knowledge
Resident assistant
Uses approved public information for website answers, source links and safe service routing.
Optional internal knowledge
Council staff assistant
An independently secured staff experience can use approved internal procedures, playbooks and guidance without adding that content to resident-facing retrieval.
When internal use is in scope, public and staff experiences must have independent security boundaries, distinct access rules and separately approved sources.
Usage and improvement analytics
See what residents cannot find or understand
Usage events, feedback and authorised conversation review can provide practical evidence for service improvement. To claim actual call reduction, compare equivalent enquiry categories against an agreed contact-centre baseline.
- Question topics, demand and after-hours usage
- Source-link and service-continuation clicks
- Resident feedback by topic and language
- Staff-help requests and unsupported-answer patterns
- Recurring gaps, conflicts and sources due for review
- Optional comparison with contact-centre enquiry volumes
Question types and unsupported-answer patterns are inferred from authorised conversation review rather than stored as direct outcome events. Assistant usage alone does not prove that a phone call was avoided.
Resident demand dashboard
Illustrative reporting structure
Highest demand
Waste and bins
Content gap
Fence rules
Escalation pattern
Property-specific advice
Evidence a council can review
Source or service link selectedDirect event
Resident feedback submittedDirect event
Question type or unsupported-answer patternInferred
Contact-centre volume changeExternal comparison
Trust and boundaries
Helpful without pretending every rule is simple
Some answers depend on an address, zoning, property type, personal circumstances or formal council assessment. Waybeam makes those limits explicit.
Selected sources
Answers use council-selected and approved sources rather than searching the open web.
Visible evidence
Residents can follow the supporting council page, policy, form or document and verify the full guidance.
Safe uncertainty
The assistant asks focused follow-up questions and states when the available information is insufficient.
Human judgement preserved
Approvals, legal interpretations and case-specific decisions remain with authorised council officers.
Waybeam helps residents understand published information. It does not grant approvals, make legal decisions or replace authorised council officers.
Focused council pilot
Test real resident questions against selected council content
Start with a defined service area or a controlled set of webpages and documents. We configure the assistant, test representative questions and establish a measurable baseline for answer coverage, escalation and subsequent contact-centre comparison.
- Agreed source set and content owners
- Resident test-question pack, plus staff questions when in scope
- Answer quality and source-link review
- Analytics baseline and improvement report
A member of the Waybeam team will respond within one business day.