THE town council is pressing ahead with plans to create an online ‘virtual hub’ – a one-stop hub of information about community groups, services, venues, activities and events in the area.
Councillors have opted for a “slow and staggered approach” to creating the hub, focussing first on improving the existing town council website resources, before considering approaching external contractors to create a new virtual hub.
“We should improve what we have already got,” said cllr Jack Oatley at the town council’s community development committee meeting this month.
Whilst welcoming the idea, deputy mayor cllr Colin Goodhind stressed that the council needs to commit to keeping information on the new online resource “bang up to date”.
“It will only work with some dedicated time,” said cllr Goodhind. “It needs to be something that people can rely on, right from the start.”
“Nitty gritty detail is what will make it a success,” added cllr Pat Aves.
But the focus on launching a “bang up-to-date” virtual hub sparked concerns about the amount of time that will be required of town council staff to set up the hub.
The town council’s community development officer, Miriam Zaccarelli, explained that work needs to be done to help councillors understand the time and staffing costs required to initially input the information, highlighting that there are over 200 groups in the community area.
She also explained that councillors will also need information about what will be required of town council staff to maintain the website.
At the meeting, councillors unanimously agreed to improve existing online town council resources, without putting a timeframe on when all the information needs to be inputted to the virtual hub. They also agreed to set up a working group, made up of town councillors, to review progress of the virtual hub and oversee its development.
The town council began exploring plans for a virtual hub in June this year after they scrapped plans to use the former ArtHouse Café in the Market Place as a community hub.
News of the virtual hub plans were criticised by some residents who argued that because of months in lockdown, the community is craving more ‘in-person’ contact and are “sick of being pushed online”.
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