Postal voting has increased local election turnout in England, data released on Friday revealed.

Pilot schemes using all postal voting saw an extra 20 per cent of voters participating in the polls.

Turnout rose to an average of 50 per cent in local authorities where all-postal ballots were used.

In comparison, only a third of the electorate visited polling stations across England as a whole.

Some 59 pilot schemes were established to boost voter turnout.

But the performance of other voting methods - such as text voting, internet voting and telephone voting - has been more mixed.

Postal balloting was used for polls in 33 councils and saw turnout significantly boosted.

Local government minister, Nick Raynsford, welcomed the increase in turnout: "These pilots, these innovative arrangements to make possible different ways of voting, can make a real difference."

Seventeen councils experimented with electronic voting and saw 20 per cent of the ballot cast in this way.

Raynsford conceded that the success of these methods was "patchy" but was insisted there were still positive signs.

"The overall impression is encouraging. It looks as though this is making it possible for people who otherwise wouldn't have voted, to do so," he said.

The minister insisted that further trials would be necessary to ensure that voting was secure and that the public understood the whole process.

"There is no question that this is the future," he said. "And we are going to draw on the results of the pilots to... ensure that in the future people it will be possible for people to use a range of different methods to carry out their democratic rights."

The Electoral Commission is set to publish reports at the end of July, looking at how the schemes have been run and what lessons can be learned for future elections.

Security, disabled access, and the use of new technology will all form part of the evaluation.

Nicole Smith, director of policy at the commission, said: "The encouraging turnout at the all-postal pilot schemes demonstrates that the public is looking for more convenient ways to vote, and we congratulate the local authorities involved for their success.

"Turnout is one of the key factors that we'll be looking at when evaluating the pilot schemes."