Website

Snape with Thorp Parish Council

Website

1. The Council is required to have its own website to fulfil transparency requirements.
2. Currently the Council uses a free service provided by BT for community organisations. It was a self-build system using template pages.
3. This BT service has worked well. However, I have noticed that the site now states the site is not backed up. This is not an immediate issue as everything on the site is also stored on the Clerk’s laptop. Nevertheless, another village user, Snape Local History Group, has been advised that due to its limited usage of the BT web site it will be closed. The Council would not wish to risk losing its website completely.
4. The Council does not have its own email address(es) which is not ideal from a data protection point of view.
5. The Council could be using a domain ending in –pc.gov.uk. There are requirements to be fulfilled if using a gov.uk domain name eg ensuring servers are locked. I assume we would be able to seek confirmation of these various aspects when choosing a provider. An application has to be made to use the domain. A Registrar service is provided to register the domain name for which there is a cost (see 8 below).
6. I have checked a few local PCs/Town Councils to understand the providers they are using:
   1. Pickhill and Sinderby PC use 123.com but not the gov.uk domain name.
   2. Bedale Town Council, Aiskew PC and Burniston PC use WJPS which is based in Bedale. These organisations use gov.uk domain name.
   3. Leyburn Town Council uses Digital Nomads which is based in London. It also uses gov.uk domain name.
7. Wix.com and 123.com were listed as 1. and 2. on a google search of the best website providers. Both appear to be large and multinational. WJPS and Digital Nomads are UK based.
8. The costs appear to comprise:
   1. Obtaining the domain name – Gov.UK site indicates that for the gov.uk domain name “a baseline cost for a new domain name is £80 plus VAT for the first 2 years. The renewal fee every 2 years after that is £40 plus VAT. You can expect your registrar to charge a mark-up depending on the level of service they provide”.
   2. Designing/setting up the website and on-going hosting costs

Note: prices quoted are ex VAT; on-going costs based on annual contracts

The above is based on a simple on-line research but shows a range of options available.

In view of the potential pressing need to address setting up a new website, I have included a figure of £500 in the budget calculations for 2021/22 but depending on which provider was used this may not be sufficient. In addition, there would also be costs for the Clerk’s time in setting up the website, the extent of this would depend on which provider was used.

Sarah Lowe

Clerk