Higher Kinnerton Council Community media solutions

Higher Kinnerton is a small village in near the English border with . The Community Council precept is around £28000. Higher Kinnerton Community Council have embarked on a multi media project to support their community. This has consisted of the following (1) Village newsletter (2) Facebook (3) Village website (4) Multimedia for Council meetings

(1) There is an excellent free, locally distributed colour news letter which is published monthly by the HKCC media sub commitee. This outlines all the latest news and events in the village and surrounding areas and currently supports a four page format and is partly funded by local business adverts. The news letter is also archived and available online for the public and community http://higherkinnerton.org.uk/D7HTCC/HKCCD7/#newsletter

(2) Another aspect of HKCC campaign on media is the starting of a Facebook page Many members of the village have joined to keep up to date with local news and events and engage with the community to build and support others in the community. You can view HKCC on Facebook by searching "Higher-Kinnerton"

(3) HKCC have also created a multi media website to keep the community posted on all the latest news. Public notices can be accessed,and Council documents for public viewing can also be viewed online. A Community Forum has been launched and currently other community groups such as All Saints Church are using the site to help engage with the community on events and news. The Website can be found here http://higherkinnerton.org.uk/

(4) HKCC have also launched a multi media solution for their meetings and presentations..... HKCC identified that meetings were running longer and longer and often several copies of documents for the meetings were required for the Council members Often it was not possible to issue all members with all the documents required which can run to many pages, also large maps and plans to cover agenda items.... Councilor Jon Boden was tasked with finding a soution with the support of the HKCC team. “We wanted a cost effective solution to engage multi media in our meetings and after some research we found a solution.Our meeting location in our local Village Hall has no internet access or multimedia equipment A laptop mirrored with a large flat screen via a WIFI dongle and an internet dongle for access online gave us the solution.” “Now our meetings are using a lot less paper and we are able to present agenda, minutes and engage multi media tools such as Google Earth / Street Maps and planning designs”

“We are able to pass the laptop to any member of the meeting to take control and give a presentation. We use a secured file share where members can upload their documents fot their presentation prior to the meeting – this also enables us to review other Community Council information and documents to support the agenda "

It is clear that media can support the community and allow the public to engage and debate with the Community Council and feed back on issues they are concerned about such as road safety and planning issues

The media solution here also allows the community to see local crime police reports and also local village issues that are of concern.