Community Portals

Creating a sense of community across Leicestershire

Can village-based websites improve access to council services and make a difference to village residents?  Results from the Leicestershire Rural Partnership and Leicester-Shire e-Government partnership’s Community Portals project suggests the answer is a resounding YES.

The Leicestershire Rural Partnership identified a need to provide better access to information in the rural parts of the Leicester-Shire region and beyond. As a result a project was jointly funded and supported to develop a standardised website development tool.  This tool allows community members to create community interest websites free of charge.  

Community Portals in Practice

The Community Portals tool has has been used to produce Leicestershirevillages.com, a series local websites for the region. These sites have been developed in a standard template, so that each village in the region, however big or small, can have its own place to publish locally relevant information.

Along with local content Leicestershire Villages also have discussion forums where residents can register to participate or post information about their local community.

To learn more about this tool visit:
http://www.leicestershirecommunity.com