TECHNO THREAT TO YEAR 2000.

Croydon's ambitious plans to celebrate the new millennium have been well-documented and are now well underway.

But welcoming in the new century with a bang is only half the job for councils across the globe.

A major problem has emerged, borne from the fact that many computers can only recognise the last two digits of the year, meaning they won't be able to tell the difference between 1900 and 2000.

So unless systems and equipment are made "millennium-compliant," every aspect of life which relies on computer chips could go wrong.

For Croydon Council, this means that services such as electoral registration, parking penalties, staff payroll and planning applications would be jeopardised.

And equipment like traffic lights, CCTV, telephone switchboards and lifts could malfunction - with obvious catastrophic consequences.

"The millennium computer chip problem poses potentially horrendous hazards for every organisation in every country around the world," says Croydon Council leader Valerie Shawcross. "Unfortunately the chips that control dates are buried deep inside most computer systems and finding and changing them all is a long, tedious and expensive job."

Luckily, the council is "confident" that it's on top of the problem well in advance.

The borough's information technology advisers have embarked on a £1m remedial programme that should ensure the year 2000 will arrive without enormous upheaval.

"We've adopted a policy of seeking the most cost-effective solution in every instance," continues Valerie.

"In some cases this involves modifying and upgrading software and hardware. In others it will be more economical to replace equipment.

"We've even appointed a year 2000 project manager, Peter Wakeham, and we believe the plans we've embarked on are realistic and achievable. However, progress will be monitored closely to ensure that the millennium brings only good news."

The neighbouring borough of Lambeth may be rather less well-prepared.

A recent district auditors report warns the council: "There is a clear need to ensure sufficient priority is given to identifying microchip technology which may be affected by the year 2000 problem."

Lambeth believes tracing every item of equipment which could malfunction as a result of the date change is a near-impossible task.

"An honest organisation could not attempt to guarantee that all possible year 2000 bugs will be picked up because the problem is of such a scale," says a spokesman.

But Croydon believes it will have the job done with 12 months to spare, a promise praised by the district auditor.

It's been recognised that schools are a particular problem.

"They increasingly rely on information technology for both administrative and curriculum-based activities and they're being helped to tackle the problem," says a Croydon Council spokesman.

"Where the work is under the council's direct control, systems and infrastructure will be upgraded before the end of 1998.

"Although the investment is needed at a critical time for council spending, the funding will come from capital accounts and will not be a drain on running costs.

"The bonus is that many aspects of the council's information technology will have been updated ahead of schedule and won't need further renewing for several years."

So providing all this work goes according to plan, then people living in Croydon will be able to remember the start of the millennium for all the right reasons.

And as deputy council leader Adrian Dennis said recently: "It's going to be one hell of a party!"

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000.Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.