Agenda item
ACCESSIBILITY OF INFORMATION FROM CITY, TOWN AND COMMUNITY COUNCILS - ANNUAL REVIEW
To receive a verbal report from Julia Hughes (Independent Member).
Minutes:
Independent Member Julia Hughes (JH) referred to the audit
report she had undertaken to access the accessibility of information from the
website of all 37 City/ Town/ Community Councils in Denbighshire compared to
the study undertaken in late 2015- early 2016. Areas examined and information
sought included –
·
availability of the previous minutes including
date
·
details of date, venue and time of next meeting
·
bilingual provisions
·
notes and additional details
Members were reminded that the findings provided a snapshot
at the time, which could have changed. JH presented to the Committee an
overview report of the work undertaken across the 37 City/ Town/ Community
Councils and the main finding as follows -
·
many websites were in place but really out of
date
·
many websites were not bilingual
·
some websites were under development
·
many councils had standard agendas only, that
never changed
·
the Town Council websites generally were more
advanced
·
some sites were excellent examples for other
areas to use if they wanted to
·
many sites were not linked or did not have up to
date details on the Denbighshire website – www.moderngov.denbighshire.gov.uk
·
some sites were linked to www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/wa-councils/wa-council-ac.htm
(a Welsh Government site) but many were not
·
four councils had no electronic presence
·
many had no details of their councillors or how
to contact them
·
some councils had old websites that came up in
searches so you believed there was no up to date information
·
some sites were good with good templates but
some were out of date
Consequently JH recommended the following, in her view, as
minimum requirements –
·
have a website
·
easy domain name that came up in searches
relatively easily
·
link to Denbighshire modern government website www.moderngov.denbighshire.gov.uk
·
the link on the Denbighshire County Council
website to the City, Town or Community Council website should be the correct
one and not to an old site
·
link to Welsh Government website www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/wa-councils/wa-council-ac.htm
·
any links on www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/wa-councils/wa-council-dl.htm
needed to be the correct ones
·
bilingual site essential
·
name of clerk with picture and contact details
including email address and phone number
·
names of all councillors with their pictures and
contact details including email addresses and phone numbers
·
dates of meetings, venues, time
·
agendas
·
previous minutes
·
details of the areas that the council covered
with map if possible
·
how people could be involved – being a councillor,
attending meetings
Optional additional recommendations –
·
electronic enquiry form
·
history of the area
·
events in the area
·
links to other local groups’ websites
·
use of social media to engage wider audiences
·
details on Code of Conduct
·
record of declarations of interest
The Chair took the opportunity to thank JH for her hard work
and excellent report and other members echoed those sentiments.
The following points were raised during the ensuing debate –
·
as a member of Rhyl Town Council (RTC), Councillor
Barry Mellor reported that grant funding had enabled the Rhyl website to be
rebuilt and due to its infancy was
expected to be of high standard.
·
the Chair was in favour for the report to be
forwarded to the Community Engagement Manager for circulation to City/ Town/
Community Councils at upcoming cluster meetings. (GW to action)
·
Councillor Barry Mellor made reference to many
City/Town/ Community Councils having had to fund the setup of websites as cuts
to funding had resulted in funds being applied to other provisions.
·
concerns that 4 Community Councils did not have
a website, twice the amount from the previous report .
The Committee acknowledged that whilst some of the report
recommendations would take time and require additional funds, others involved
good practice and did not require additional resources. It was also acknowledged that although the
focus had been on improvement in some areas, the report had revealed many
positives and excellent work and good practice being undertaken within communities
which could be shared across Denbighshire.
RESOLVED that –
(a) the reports presented by Independent
Member Julia Hughes on the accessibility of information from the final eight City,
Town and Community Council websites, and the Overview Report of the Electronic
Communications of City, Town and Community Councils be received and noted;
(b) copies of the reports be forwarded to the
Community Engagement Manager who would be requested to liaise with the City,
Town and Community Councils in respect
of matters raised (GW to action).