Why do we need this new website?
The old one worked ok!
Yes to some extent that is true but rules and regulations governing these sorts of websites are always changing, which means we have a legal duty of care to conform.
Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018
Accessibility regulations for public sector bodies came into force on September 23rd 2018. These new regulations, known officially as The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No.2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 build on existing obligations to people who have a disability under the Equality Act 2010 (or the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 in Northern Ireland). These regulations state that all UK service providers must consider ‘reasonable adjustments’ for disabled people.
When do Parish Councils need to comply with the Accessibility Regulations?
If our website was published before 23rd September 2018 then we have until 23rd September 2020 to become compliant. If our website had been published after 23rd September 2018 then we would have had until 23rd September 2019 to be compliant and publish an accessibility statement.
So to put it simply, our old website no longer conformed.
The original website was set up and run by Rob Grimmond, who until recently was our Parish Council Chairman until he retired and to whom we all owe a massive “Thank You” because trust me, it’s been a lot of work and commitment for him over the years.
During Rob’s time, he built up a wealth of useful pages full of good local information. Many of these features have been incorporated here into our new website, along with some new ones, all of this whilst trying to keep it looking both familiar and fresh, simple and intuitive for us all to use.
The website serves our parish of Combe St Nicholas and sets out to:
- Allow the Parish Council documents and information to be distributed and freely available for everyone to access quickly and easily
- Show dates and times for upcoming Parish Council meetings and events.
- Help inform all of us regarding many of the upcoming events and activities associated with our community.
So have a good old rummage around this our new parish website, and hopefully you will find it informative, friendly and useful.
If you have any comments or good ideas on improving the website, please contact our website administrator and Councillor, Ian Croucher on 01460 64098 or email iancroucher@hotmail.com and let him know your thoughts. We will always be looking to enhance the site for our community. Many thanks, Your Parish Council.
- New Puzzle Group. A number of people have recently expressed an interest in jigsaw puzzles. Does anyone have an interest in joining a puzzle group? People could send us photos of spare puzzles and we’ll make them accessible to see online through Dropbox. If anyone’s interested, please email Kay & Rob Grimmond at motcombe@btinternet.com.