swanage.gov.uk
Can anything be done to bring the councils website more up to date, and fix the broken bits like the PDA guide which is featured on the home page along with the Swanage & Purbeck Holiday Guide 2005!
Even in the tourism section there are only 6 events listed and 4 of those are for 2005
If the council cant be bothered to update their own website perhasp they should just close it down as it looks very bad for this town if the council cant even keep their own info up to date.
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Posted by Anonymous to swanage view at 1/02/2006 04:07:26 PM
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If purbeck district council can come up with a new site like http://www.purbeck.gov.uk, I am sure that swanage council could at least have current info on their site.
The Purbeck one is managed by one person full time and that is a very large website, cant swanage council spare anyone for a hour a week just to keep theirs current ?
Putting my councillor hat on ... I absolutely agree the town council website should be more up-to-date — and I shall continue to lobby for improvement. I believe it should (and easily could) be a useful, relevant and interactive source of information.
At the least, everyone should be able to see the minutes of recent meetings, and the agendas of forthcoming meetings. That doesn't require any rocket science.
And what about publishing up-to-date reports on recent developments? Such as an update on the Swanage Town & Community Partnership.
There could be a frequent 'newsletter' online (so saving the cost and delay in putting out 'Swanage matters'.
And more besides... But getting up-to-date basics would be a start.
Mike Hadley, Councillor (Swanage Town Council)
I think your all over looking something... I often visit the Virtual Swanage web site ( http://www.virtual-swanage.co.uk/ )as I find that's updated every day with events etc etc !! I can plan my accomodation on there, it also shows places of local interest!! It even shows the weather for the area which is good for me and my husband.. as we often come down with are nice 26ft'er !!
virtualswanage is good - but serves a different purpose. Surely the Council site needs to provide up-to-date information on council business and developments that affect most of us. LInks to general information are certainly useful additions too.
After looking at other council websites, it seems that the Swanage Council site is trying to cover too much but without any real detail.
Most of the other councils have a "Council website" and a "tourism website" and keep both seperate. Perhaps it would be better if Swanage council took this approach and then it would also make it easier to find the info which people are looking for.
Oh yes, I think your correct.... The council site should stick with council stuff !!!
Possibly showing where there money goes,meeting mins,local council work/events....maybe even a page showing pictures of each active member.. stuff like that..give it the family feeling... I don't think that the council can provide an all covering web site..
It beats me why we have a town council web site and a district council one. The County Council, most of the Districts and various towns have amalgamated theirs and have a single site, www.dorsetforyou.com, where you can find everything to do with all of them. Why on earth have PDC just revamped theirs instead of making it part of this and left the parishes to wallow along with rubbishy efforts like Swanages.
It'd be a fair assumption that a reason why Swanage council's website is quite so dire is that it reflects a disinclination to communicate with residents.
It's no surprise is it that full council meetings have got shorter and shorter with the present administration - and less and less is discussed when the public have a sporting chance to be there and listen in.
No surprise either that the current mayor doesn't have an e-mail address.
Those currently holding the reins at the town council really don't want too much public participation.
The new PDC website is actually more difficult to navigate around than the old one.
Even though it isn't very good it's still better than the county council's dorsetforyou which is about the worst local authority site I've come across for finding useful information.
It's not surprising really that north Dorset council, which is part of the dorsetforyou still has its own website, and though that's not very good, it's still better than dreadfuldorsetforyou.
If people are unwilling to leave their names with their comments then you should not publish them. For all the reader knows they are all written by the same person who may be the editor .David Gerry
The main reason people are not dumb enough to leave their own email address on display is because they dont want to end up being swamped with spam for body growing pills !
I see in the councils best perforamce plan that they are going to be upgrading their website again soon!
Quote: The Council upgraded its official website in 2002. The Council records and monitors website
enquiries in order to assess the impact of internet access. Current trends show a reduction in
the number of visitors to the Council’s official website. The Council acknowledges the need
to update the website in line with other websites promoting Swanage and Purbeck. It is
anticipated that this will coincide with changes being considered by the English Tourism
Council as part of the destination management package for nationally networked Tourist
Information Centres.
End Quote.
I wonder if it will be possible to get a launch date for this new website ?
Might be a question worth asking at Public Question time at the next open Council meeting. 7 pm, Monday 30 January at the Town Hall. Or write to the Town Clerk.
Can someone send Dave Gerry some body growing pills please
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