Buckie & District Community Council

The Council

Buckie & District Community Council represents the views of Buckie and the surrounding district to Moray Council and other public bodies. In Scotland, community councils are the first tier of statutory representation.

Its councillors are all volunteers. They meet regularly to discuss local issues, review planning applications and organise events.

The Challenge

Much of a community council’s work happens in meetings, minutes and planning lists that most residents never see. The council wanted a website that shows people what it’s doing about the issues they raise, keeps them informed, and is easy for volunteers to keep up to date.

• Show residents what the council is doing about the issues they raise
• Keep track of the planning applications that affect Buckie
• Bring local news, events, groups and useful information into one place
• Simple for volunteers to update without technical help
• Usable by everyone, on any device

The Solution

I designed and built a new website from scratch, following the council’s brand guidelines, in its own navy, teal and green with Lato for the text.

Behind it is a custom admin area, so councillors can update every part of the site themselves.

• A planning tracker: each application the council reviews, with its status from pending review to approved or refused, and a link to the full details on Moray Council’s planning portal
• A projects tracker, so residents can follow each issue the council takes up, from bus services to a dog park, as it moves from active to resolved
• An events calendar, where anyone running a local event can send it in
• An interactive community map of local businesses, places of interest and services
• Meeting minutes, agendas and reports, filed by type and date
• Memory Lane, a community photo album of Buckie in times gone by
• Advice on getting ready for storms, floods and power cuts, seagull advice with a way to report problems, a directory of local groups, and BairnsBank, the council’s baby essentials scheme
• An accessibility toolbar on every page, with bigger text, high contrast, a reading mask and more
• An admin area for news, events, planning, projects, councillors, documents, the map, Memory Lane, messages and users, with visitor statistics

The outcome

The community council now has one place to show residents what it’s doing, from the planning applications it reviews to the projects it’s pushing forward, and to keep them up to date with news and events.

Because the volunteers can update it all themselves, it stays current between meetings.

Screens from the site