The internet is, by definition, global in its reach and content. You can check out webcams on Alpine ski slopes, and train timetables in South America, but an often underused aspect of the resource is delving a little deeper into the community on your own doorstep.

There are guides to local services such as schools, doctors and rubbish collectors, as well as online billboards for like-minded cyclists or joggers.

SPORT AND LEISURE

You can live in an area for years and still miss a hidden gem of a pub or bar. The excellent fancyapint.com aims to correct this. It covers London extremely well but doesn’t forget the rest of the country, making it as far as Inverness (where Hootanannys Ceilidh Cafe Bar is rated four pints out of a possible five). There is also a version for mobiles (fancyapint.mobi).

For a more general steer on what’s going on, check out britinfo.net . This is a listings guide written by local people for local people, covering everything from car boot sales to cinemas.

If cycling is your thing, you can find the best routes in your area and read what other cyclists have to say about them at cycle-route.com . The site also allows you to plot your own route on its interactive map.

Five-a-side footie fans should see pitch-invasion.com , a clever idea that aims to make games hassle-free all over the country. All you need to do is assemble a team and sign up to the website and it will arrange a league local to you, fixture list and referee, as well as take care of posting your results on the online league table.

Swimmers should head to tinyurl.com/2ovlsl for an A-Z national listing of lidos and tidal saltwater pools. Despite its name, londontennis.co.uk lists courts nationwide.

SERVICES

Need to know your nearest bank or petrol station? Go to uklocalarea.com . It’s not just the information it’s got that is useful (it includes things such as house prices, school results and a “quality of life rating” for each area based on the government’s index of deprivation), it’s the user-friendly way it’s presented: simply tap in your postcode and a list of information will be displayed. Thomsonlocal.com is the online version of the UK business directory for local traders.

You can find your nearest doctor, dentist, pharmacy, hospital, optician, walk-in centre or NHS trust at www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk . For those seeking information on local schools, www.ofsted.gov.uk has inspection reports and www.dcsf.gov.uk has performance tables.

If you need directions while out and about, Google Maps offers a mobile phone-based version downloadable from www.google.com/gmm/index.html . This can often tell you on most mobiles where you are and how to get to where you want to be. Its close rival, Yell.com ( www.yellmobile.com ), offers a similar service.

Using timetable data supplied by local authorities, www.traveline.info/ index.htm is a brilliant journey planner with better information than some of the operators for most bus, train, coach, ferry or Underground service.

SOURCE LOCAL FOOD

Eating locally produced food may be a laudable aim – you get the freshest produce, support local farmers and avoid busy supermarkets – but finding out where you can buy it can be a pain. For local farmers’ markets and places to pick your own, see farmersmarkets.net , and for local farm shops there is a good interactive map at farmshopping.net/farm-shops.htm . All the listings are inspected by the National Farmers’ Retail and Markets Association ( www.farma.org.uk ), which also gives awards in various categories. For example, the best 2008 on-farm bakery is Lifton farm shop in Lifton, Devon, where the beef pies are made from cattle reared half a mile from the shop, fed on home-grown barley, maize and grass.

Sourcing locally means eating seasonally, and to find out what is in season now see www.timesonline.co.uk/realfood or www.bbc.co.uk/food/in_season/march.shtml (rhubarb, lobster, beetroot, leeks and carrots, since you ask). The site also has links to recipes. Roasted lobster with champagne soufflé anyone?

UNSEEN HAZARDS

Be afraid, be very afraid. That seems to be the message from the section of Greenpeace’s site ( www.greenpeace.org ) that publishes the nuclear waste transport timetable, and says every week trains carrying nuclear waste trundle along the UK’s rail network, often at peak times.

Similarly, you can find out how much radioactive waste is being produced by every licensed outlet in the country, where it was released and what is in it at www.environment-agency. gov.uk . The site can also tell you which, if any, landfills you might live close to, and it updates its flood warnings every 15 minutes.

At www.airquality.co.uk you can see what is in the air where you live (though a degree in chemistry will help with the details).

LOCAL POLITICS

“It is every citizen’s duty to challenge the torment and distress so often caused by local authorities,” says www.rottencouncil.co.uk , which directs much of its ire against North East Lincolnshire council.

Many a citizen has taken heed of such sentiments and corruptcamdencouncil.blogspot.com offers links to residents’ rants about the London borough.

Others devote themselves to letting off steam about the local government ombudsman – www.psow.co.uk published a 2007 customer survey on the ombudsman, which revealed that only 26% were satisfied with the outcome of their complaint.

The New Local Government Network, a not-for-profit think tank ( www.nlgn.org.uk/public ), was set up to make local government more relevant to the people who pay for it. It publishes reports that show, for example, that quangos (whose expenditure accounts for 21% of public spending) are largely run by people from London and the southeast.

Mayorwatch.org.uk sets itself the ambitious task of being an independent guide to London politics, the mayor and the Greater London Authority. Though it is good for background issues, this site has more news than comment.

For a good overview of how local government is broken down, you should visit Political Science Resources ( www.psr.keele.ac.uk ). This site explains the hierarchy of government from parish councils upwards.

Finally, if you click on “Your Local Area” at www.audit-commission.gov.uk/index.asp you can discover how your local council is spending your council tax.

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