Bramcote Today

www.bramcotetoday.org.uk

Community Website

Sue Sambells, Steve Austin & Mike Johnson

Broxtowe Borough Council initiative

Community Action Team meetings were introduced in Bramcote by Councillor Stan Heptinstall.

A presentation, by William Perrin, at the November CAT meeting in 2010 encouraged four local residents to volunteer to Broxtowe’s appeal to create and run a similar website in Bramcote.

Training was provided by William from ‘Talk About Local’ which is a project that gives communities a powerful online voice. Talk About Local shows people how to use simple, free powerful web platforms to help them express themselves.

Bramcote Today was officially launched at the 40th CAT meeting to a packed room of 100 local residents in March 2011.

In Bramcote Today’s 2011 news release the editors explained:The site offers residents a ‘one-stop shop’ for all things Bramcote and a ‘blog’ for sharing news on local events and activities, contact details for local schools and politicians, as well as spreading important community safety messages.

Bramcote Today is for local people of all ages to enable them to become more active in their community – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

William Perrin runs the website Talk About Local

In an article, published by the Guardian, he said:

‘The web isn't the answer for everything’

But it is overwhelmingly the place people go in 2011 for

information and advice. In Kings Cross we have used a very basic

website for many years now to help people access, understand and

engage with local politics to make their area better. It's run by

citizens following things they are interested in and the council takes

part. We discourage party political slanging and bad behaviour.

• It's wrong to focus on amending the local structuresTo get engagement you have to be people-led. When council people occasionally moan in unguarded moments about 'the usual suspects' coming to meetings I point out that it is the council's engagement structures that have shaped and created the usual suspects (of which i have been one). You have to be articulate, obsessive, good at reading and have lots of free time to engage. No kids helps too.

• In many areas there isn't a 'press', hostile or otherwiseOne of the most worrying features for democracy is the lack of an active local media. Local websites are helping fill this gap in many areas but the coverage is by no means complete. One or two councils in quite an enlightened way have helped us work with local communities to give them their own voice online. This one in Nottingham is good, prompted by Broxtowe council. Online media is not for everyone and councils need to ensure that they provide alternative means, but this isn't an argument for not using online media.

Three months after the launch, Richard Brown of Broxtowe Borough Council’s Communications Department wrote to the editors:

Congratulations on the ongoing success of the Bramcote Today site, which looks to be going from strength to strength.

On behalf of the Council, I just wanted to offer an update and let you know that the Council recently nominated our work together for two national awards. The site was shortlisted in the Best Information and Communication Technology Initiative category of the Association of Public Sector Excellence (APSE) Service Awards in September.

More recently, the site was nominated in the Best Community Engagement category of the Some Comms Awards last month – despite missing out on both awards, making it as far as being shortlisted is an achievement in itself!

There was plenty to write about– concerns like the Bargain Bus that really wasn’t. And the politically led posts that have remained a favourite battle ground with a handful of faithful readers!But by the summer, we considered how we could grow our audience and offer new genres of material.My daughter, who was an Art Illustration student, suggested an Art competition between the five Bramcote schools. Along with Cllr Stan Heptinstall and our MP Anna Soubry, she judged the competition themed: What is great about my school?

Following the success of the Art competition, competitions were held annually for three more years:Schools Poetry Competition 2012 “What’s so great about Bramcote?”The Bramcote Schools Enterprise Competition 2013 – Promotional leaflet about Bramcote. Schools History Competition 2014 – Front page of a newspaper about how WW1 affected Bramcote.

We set up a facebook page – currently close to 700 followers

And later on a twitter page – to date 626 followers

2011 Original banner – amount of topics kept growing

2018 New banner – four main topics

Saved and ditched info/links

• I created a new WordPress website early last year dedicated to Community Safety in South Broxtowe and realised how many new themes had been introduced in WordPress since we set up Bramcote Today.

• Last summer we held a meeting to review our current site and consider how we could improve it:

• Streamline and make more relevant for 2018.

Posts are in tile format showing their category and title, along with a featured image.

To view, simply click on the tile.

If you submit a post, please also supply a suitable image that complies with copyright laws.

Simplified header (21 topics reduced to 5)

About/Contact

Community Activities

Community Concerns

Community Safety

Community Services

This page is considerably streamlined. Previously:How to Use This Site• Submit a Comment• Start a new Discussion• Submit a Photograph• Comments and Posts Publication

Policy• Comments and Posts EtiquetteThe six pages of guidance was often ignored!

We plan to be stricter with moderation of comments on our website: • Constructive, considered arguments

welcomed. • Personal or unconsidered (flippant)

comments are not.

Each of the titles have sub heading pages, hyperlinked to numerous leisure activities/groups etc.By using hyperlinks, providing the relevant administrators keep their own websites up to date, the information we provide will be. It is also easier to negotiate around our website.

Newly Introduced topics include:• Location of the six

defibrillators in the area• Bramcote Hills

Community Café• Links to local services:

➢ Hanley Avenue Patient Participation Group

➢ Bramcote Doctors➢ Bramcote Dentists

Our successes in the last seven years

• Four, previously untrained in web design, editors created an innovative community website dedicated to Bramcote.

• Three of the original editors have continued to keep residents informed about local issues and offer a platform for constructive debate, including via social media.

• We used to seek info to publish. Now it comes to us.

• We answer general emails from concerned residents and signpost them to the correct councillor or website to deal with their issue.

• Heading towards 1.5million hits.• Second, only to Wikipedia, in

Google ranking for Bramcote!

www.bramcotetoday.org.uk

https://www.facebook.com/BramcoteToday/

https://twitter.com/BramcoteToday