Cumbria County Council's cabinet has backed plans to radically improve customer services.
Members of the cabinet gave their in-principle backing to an ambitious vision of how the county council will deal with members of the public in the future and provide access to the council and council services.
The county council's Customer Contact Vision sets out plans to provide a simple system for the public to contact the council for all services and establish standards for providing a fast efficient response in all areas.
The aim is to provide people with a range of ways of dealing with the council - by phone, face-to-face, electronically or in a letter - all of which will be simple, efficient and courteous.
Liz Mallinson, cabinet spokeswoman on access to services, said: "Our aim is to make sure that anyone who contacts us will get an efficient, effective and polite service.
"We want to make sure that we really are customer focussed - that means making sure things are organised around giving people the best possible service and not, as has sometimes been the case in local government, organised to be convenient for the council or run in a certain way simply because that is how things have always been done.
"Cabinet approval for this will be a major step towards getting it right for the residents of Cumbria."
Following the decision, the county council will soon be looking to recruit a customer services manager.