Agenda item

To receive a verbal report from Julia Hughes (Independent Member).

 

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·         many websites were in place but really out of date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·         some sites were good with good templates but some were out of date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).