Chelvaston-cum-Caldecott Parish Council

Chelveston-cum-Caldecott Parish Council is a small council in Northamptonshire, it represents a population of around 600 people and has a precept of just over £10,000 per year.

Clerk to the Council Mark Hunter said: "The two main benefits of using UKLC (UK Local Councils) are the ease of adding content and the speed of getting benefits such as efficient communications and time savings. I only work part time so it's essential that the website is quick and easy to use."

"UKLC can be found in around 100 parish and town councils across Northamptonshire. There's no shortage of people to compare notes with and share best practice. The sites share a common system but no two are identical. This 'approach' to web layout with the full set of features provides a very simple solution to what could be a complex and time consuming issue. I found understanding how it works very easy. After an initial two hour training session I found it simple to access the website tools and get on with shaping the site to start delivering benefits for the council."

"I've developed a core philosophy about our use of the site, I'm working to ensure it is the first stop for all information about the council. This has greatly reduced the number of questions I get as the public can find all the information on our website. I make good use of the 'ticker message' to grab peoples attention and get them involved in things like litter picking and reporting faulty street lights etc."

"From a web visitor's perspective the sites are easy to navigate around. I put lots of links to other pages in my text, it's very easy to do and means people can get quickly to the content they're looking for rather than having to search through layers of nested pages and content. I've received lots of compliments from the public about how easy it is to find things."

"We have been awarded the Local Council Award Scheme 'Quality' status. When the assessment panel considered our application they congratulated us on how easy it was for them to find the required information on our website."

"There's a clear focus in the development of UKLC which limits certain choices, such as font types. This helps me (the site editor) to get on with my job rather than wasting time being a website developer. And because it's so easy to maintain the site there's no need to pay anyone else to do it. My Councillors are highly delighted with what we've been able to achieve. Their focus is rightly on the content and not the technology.

"The site provides a degree of joined-upness that's a real benefit for my users. The A-Z of Services pulls in data seamlessly from the county and district council websites. It's a very efficient way of doing things and means I can concentrate on being the clerk rather than manipulating a website."

"When the new transparency regulation came in for councils with a precept of less that £25,000, it was very quick and easy for me to setup a transparency page with links to the pages containing all the required information. Similarly when GDPR came in it was easy for me to setup a new page for that."