Wonder at website (From Wiltshire Times)

Wonder at website

6:00pm Thursday 2nd February 2012 in Letters

In reply to Mr Apsey’s criticism that the new Melksham Without Parish Council website has only a list of councillors (Wiltshire Times, January 13) please log in to www.melkshamwithout.co.uk, and see for yourself.

HOME PAGE: Melksham Community Area Map showing parish, latest meeting dates, calendar, current surveys (this month: new bus shelter for Whitley), links to councillors, feedback form, village communities and the Parish Council office.

CONTACT PAGE: Emails, phone fax, address and opening hours.

NEWS PAGE: Link in to feedback, latest news items.

WARD MAP: Map with wards and locations of parish areas.

COMMUNITIES: Detailed information for each community.

YOUR COUNCIL: Details on council membership, purpose, location, size and population, plus minutes past and present and details of Annual Parish Meeting, information on Conservation Areas and Tree Preservation Orders, Finance, Policies, Grant application form and criteria for awards.

HISTORY: History summary for each village and community. If you would like to add to this, please send in your item.

ALLOTMENTS: Links to Tenancy Agreements.

LINKS: List of useful sites, and we are currently inserting more links to local community groups so if you would like a link, please let us know.

Overall, we feel the website is arranged in an attractive, easy-to-use format with drop-down menus and a range of local photos. We are adding to it all the time.

If Mr Apsey or any other parish resident would like to visit our office for either a guided tour of our new site or to give ideas on how we can improve it still further we would be delighted to see them.

And finally and importantly, the overall cost? Happily, less than the council would have had to pay to upgrade the previous website – just £450 plus annual maintenance costs of £200. (To track the issue through council, see minutes 194/11, 239/11 and 256/11 on our website.) We feel that the new site is excellent value for money. Please take a look and see if you agree.

Mary Jarvis, Clerk, Melksham Without Parish Council.