Getting hold of Stoke-on-Trent city council is about to get easier. In the new year, you will be able to text it about problems with litter, vandalism, drugs issues or rent arrears. In partnership with Vodafone, the council is preparing to launch a high-profile text-based service, and people will be invited to send text messages to one central number. Keywords will be used - such as vandalism - to help deliver a message quickly to the relevant department.

"If the keyword appears in the text, it's automatically routed to the right department," explains Mike Bailey, principal research and development officer for Stoke-on-Trent city council. The call centre will also intercept any texts without keywords and send them to the relevant area.

But what happens if they get snowed under with messages? "We hope we are. It will indicate that we are engaging with the public more thoroughly." Bailey is hoping the new texting initiative will give a voice to people living in more deprived areas. "We're hoping to reach a part of the community who don't use other means to communicate with us."

Across the country, more councils are turning to texting. Many see SMS as a way of engaging with young people who traditionally pay little attention to their local authorities. Crewe and Nantwich borough council is setting up a text database of young people so the council can inform them of services and consult with them. "We've identified that we are not good at communicating with young people. Texting is a medium they're used to. It's a way of getting them involved," explains Louise Musa, head of member liaison democratic services for Crewe and Nantwich. Already a small group of young people has been consulted via texts for views on the re-development of skateboard parks and the results have been positive. "We're building it up gradually. If we're making decisions about things that will affect young people, the councillors want to make sure their decisions are informed rather than assumed ones," says Musa.

The platform for the council's new texting service is being provided by London-based technology house, Sign-Up.To, but eventually it will be run in house. "We're training up each department so they can use and maintain their own text lists," explains Matt McNeill, director of Sign-Up.To. While he thinks councils will make themselves more accessible by going down this route, McNeill says councils have to be careful about the nature of the messages they pump out. "It's making sure the messages are relevant to the audiences. It has to be made specific because mobile is such a personal medium."

He feels texting is ideal for time-sensitive messages or for councils to drive people to take specific actions. "If they use it appropriately, it could make councils more accessible in the long run. It's going to help councils appear more relevant."

For parents in Scotland, the onset of winter can be a time of school closures. Fife council has launched a text alert service to let them know as quickly as possible. So far, more than 200 parents have visited Fife's site and signed up to receive alerts. The service is being expande d to provide information on road closures or elderly day centres being shut due to severe conditions.

But Fife is keen to emphasise that texting is not the only method of communication. "It's to do with people having a variety of ways of interacting with the council," says Fiona Armstrong, Fife's media manager. "Different people like having different ways of access. We're looking at how we can be more proactive."

Armstrong hopes that texting can be used to make council transport services more responsive to people who are dependent on adapted minibuses for travel. Text-based job alerts are also under consideration so that information on the latest vacancies for specific industries could immediately be sent to your phone. Armstrong also wants to look at introducing snapshot polls for young people to elicit their views on matters such as transport services.

If text messaging spreads, it is bound to affect the culture of local councils. But if councils are going to be accessed via text, they will have to become much faster on their feet. It's one thing putting text services in place, but councils know they need to reply promptly to messages.

The other question that hangs over these early pilots is whether sufficient numbers of people will be bothered to text their councils. You can understand why a young person might want to quickly text MTV to win tickets to a hot gig but somehow, Stoke-on-Trent city council doesn't have quite the same appeal. Only time will tell.