Warwickshire News Mine

Rugby and its surrounding villages is the first area of the county to be encouraged to trial the new interactive website as a way of making people’s feelings known to the County Council and its partners, including Rugby Borough Council and Warwickshire Police.

The Warwickshire Localities site (http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/communityforumsonline) is similar in design to other popular networking sites such as Facebook.

Once you’ve logged in and become a member, you can view discussions and post comments about the area of Rugby you live in, which will be read and responded to by the County Council.

The website supports the face-to-face discussions that have been taking place between residents, Councillors and officers at Rugby’s Community Forums –community meetings that take place in six different localities around Rugby borough and focus on very local issues.

The latest round of Community Forum meetings in Rugby has just taken place, with car parking being a hot topic at the Dunchurch meeting.

Consultation on parking in the village has already begun, but is now being extended online to give people even more opportunity to have their say.

Dan Green, Manager of Warwickshire County Council’s Rugby Area Team, said: “At the Dunchurch Community Forum on 17 June, several issues regarding parking in the village were raised, in particular parking in the area around the schools.

“We would like your opinions on parking in Dunchurch. Do you feel that there is a specific problem with parking in the village? We’re encouraging people to tell us what they think on the new website.”

People who don’t live in Dunchurch, but have views about other issues and what should be done about them in their own area of Rugby, are also being encouraged to leave their opinions on the website.

Rugby is split into six localities (areas), each with its own face-to-face Community Forum, meetings of which take place four times a year. Each area now also has a discussion thread on the website.

The areas are: Dunchurch; Fosse; Rugby Town West; Earl Craven; Brownsover, Benn & Newbold; and Eastlands & Hillmorton.

Councillor Heather Timms, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for Customers, Workforce and Partnerships, said: “I fully support this new initiative, which is all about letting communities have their say in what is happening where they live.”

Warwickshire County Council will be monitoring what sort of a response they get from the public on the new website.

Tim Dumbleton, E-communications Manager at Warwickshire County Council, said: “This is a trial to find out whether the public want to use an online forum and whether it can build on what is already happening with the Community Forums.

“It gives people the opportunity to air their views regardless of their location and time commitments, and will hopefully broaden participation in local debates.”

The Warwickshire Localities website is managed by Warwickshire County Council on behalf of the public service partners involved in Community Forums, including Rugby Borough Council and Warwickshire Police.

Residents without internet access, but who want to share their views, can contact Warwickshire County Council’s Rugby Area Team on 01788 533 656.

Link to WCC