Case Study: Chard Town Council Website
A modern council website built around residents, transparency and local services
SlashDotDash Ltd created the website for Chard Town Council, giving the council a clearer and more practical online presence for residents, visitors, councillors and council staff.
The website brings together important local information, including council news, meeting details, policies, finances, grants, community updates, local services and contact options, in a structure that is easier to browse and manage.
Project overview
Chard Town Council needed a website that could serve as a dependable digital hub for the town. The council’s website explains that it contains information relating to the running of the town, including council finances, agendas and minutes for meetings, and information about services offered by the council.
The council itself has a broad remit. Chard Town Council was established in 1974, is made up of fifteen councillors across five wards, has three standing committees, and is supported by officers based at the Guildhall in Chard.
For SlashDotDash Ltd, the aim was to create a council website that felt practical rather than overcomplicated: easy for residents to navigate, suitable for publishing formal council information, and structured around the way people actually look for local updates online.
The Brief
The website needed to support several different types of visitor:
Residents looking for council services, meeting dates, local updates or ways to report a problem.
Councillors and officers who need a reliable place to publish public information.
Community groups looking for grants, events or local support information.
Visitors wanting to understand Chard, the Guildhall, public transport, parks, markets and local facilities.
The website also needed to support transparency, accessibility and ongoing content management, which are especially important for town and parish council websites.
Does your council website need a clearer structure?
SlashDotDash Ltd can help plan, design and build an accessible website for your town or parish council.
The challenge
Council websites often contain a large amount of information. The challenge is not just to publish it, but to make it easy to find.
For Chard Town Council, important content needed to be organised across areas such as council policies, finances, councillors and officers, meetings, grants, services, community information and the Guildhall. The live navigation includes sections for About Chard, News, Chard Council, Council Services, Community, Chard Guildhall and Contact.
This meant the website needed a clear information architecture that could support both statutory council information and day-to-day community updates.
The solution
SlashDotDash Ltd created a structured council website with clear sections, practical navigation and prominent routes into the most commonly needed information.
The homepage includes quick links to Chard Guildhall, Meetings and Report a Problem, helping residents move quickly to high-priority information and actions.
The website also includes a dedicated contact page with options to contact the council by online form, email or telephone, along with opening hours for the council reception.
Key features of the Chard Town Council website
Clear navigation for residents
The website is organised around real user needs, with sections for local history, news, councillors, policies, finances, grants, meetings, council services, community information and contact details.
This helps residents move from broad questions, such as “what does the council do?”, to specific actions, such as finding a meeting, reading a policy or reporting a local issue.
Meetings and democratic information
The meetings section supports local democracy by providing residents with information about public participation, meeting behaviour expectations and the availability of meeting information. The page notes that members of the public can speak on agenda items and that committee meetings are audio recorded and available on the website.
For a town council, this type of structure helps make local decision-making easier to follow.
Policies and governance documents
The website includes a dedicated Council Policies area for formal documents such as standing orders, code of conduct, complaints policy, financial regulations, scheme of delegation, reserves policy, data protection policy and other council documents.
This gives residents and stakeholders a central place to find important governance information.
Finance and transparency
The Finances section explains the council’s responsibility for managing its financial affairs and includes annual accounts, annual returns, audit documents, budget information and expenditure over £500.
This is an important part of creating a transparent town council website, because financial documents need to be easy to locate and regularly updated.
Grants and community support
The website includes a Grants section explaining that Chard Town Council allocates funding for organisations, clubs, societies and groups that help build a sustainable community and economy for residents. It also explains the two funding types available: Community Development Fund Grants and Core Funding Grants.
This helps community organisations find relevant information without needing to contact the council for every basic query.
Report a problem form
The website includes a Report a Problem form with selectable categories such as allotments, cemetery, closed churchyard, parks and open spaces, markets, planning and local information centre.
This creates a clearer route for residents to raise issues with the council and helps direct enquiries to the right service area.
Accessibility and WCAG Support for Council Websites
Accessibility is a key requirement for town and parish council websites. Residents need to be able to access meeting information, policies, contact details, public notices and local services regardless of disability, device or assistive technology.
SlashDotDash Ltd helps councils create websites that are designed with accessibility in mind from the start. For public-sector websites, GOV.UK guidance says websites should meet WCAG 2.2 AA, publish an accessibility statement, and be made more accessible by being perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. Public-sector bodies remain legally responsible for their website accessibility, even when the website is supplied by an external provider, so working with an experienced website partner is important.
As part of our council website service, SlashDotDash Ltd can help with:
- WCAG-focused website design and structure
- Clear heading hierarchy and page layouts
- Keyboard-friendly navigation
- Accessible links, buttons and forms
- Colour contrast checks
- Mobile-friendly and responsive layouts
- Alternative text guidance for images
- Accessible content formatting
- Support with accessibility statements
- Guidance on publishing accessible documents
- Practical recommendations for improving existing council websites
The aim is to help councils provide a website that is easier for residents to use, easier for clerks and officers to manage, and better aligned with public-sector accessibility expectations.
Ongoing Accessibility Monitoring and Support
Accessibility should not be treated as a one-off task completed when a website launches. Council websites change regularly as new agendas, minutes, policies, notices, news updates, images and documents are added. Each update can affect accessibility, so regular monitoring is important.
SlashDotDash Ltd can provide ongoing accessibility monitoring to help councils maintain a more accessible website over time. This supports the approach highlighted by NALC, which encourages parish and town councils to carry out regular compliance checks, maintain accessibility statements and manage accessibility as part of day-to-day website publishing rather than as a one-off project.
Our ongoing accessibility support can include:
- Scheduled accessibility checks
- Review of key council pages
- Automated accessibility testing
- Manual checks for common usability issues
- Monitoring of new website content
- Checks for headings, links, forms and image alt text
- Guidance on accessible document publishing
- Updates to the accessibility statement when required
- Clear reporting on issues found
- Practical recommendations for fixes
- Training for clerks, officers or staff who update the website
This gives councils a more manageable way to keep accessibility under review as the website grows and changes. It also helps identify issues early, before they become harder to fix.
With SlashDotDash Ltd, councils can combine website design, WCAG support, accessibility monitoring, UK hosting, security and training into one joined-up service.
Need help with website accessibility?
SlashDotDash Ltd can review your council website and recommend practical accessibility improvements.
Built for council content management
A council website needs to be manageable after launch. Chard Town Council’s website includes a wide range of updateable content areas, including news, councillor information, meeting content, policies, finance documents, grants information, services and community pages.
SlashDotDash Ltd’s WordPress website design service focuses on websites that are easy to use, simple to manage, secure, accessible where required and supported after launch. It also includes training and support so users can feel confident using their website.
For councils, this kind of handover support matters because clerks and officers need to publish updates, upload documents, amend pages and keep public information current.
Security and support
Town council websites need to be reliable and protected because residents depend on them for official information, contact details, documents and notices.
SlashDotDash Ltd’s WordPress website services include website setup, contact forms, security settings, backup configuration, SSL setup and hosting setup. Its managed WordPress hosting page lists features including daily backup, daily AV scanning, SSL, ModSecurity and active DDoS protection.
For a council website, this creates a stronger foundation for long-term support and maintenance.
Want a secure, supported council website?
We can design, build, host and maintain your town or parish council website.
The outcome
The finished Chard Town Council website gives residents a more organised way to access local council information online.
The website now supports:
- Council news and public updates
- Meeting information
- Councillor and officer details
- Council policies
- Finance and audit documents
- Grant funding information
- Council service pages
- Community information
- Guildhall links
- Contact options
- Report a problem functionality
- Accessibility statement and audit information
The result is a practical town council website that supports transparency, communication and resident access to information.
Need a similar website for your council?
SlashDotDash Ltd creates accessible, secure and easy-to-manage websites for town and parish councils.
Why this project matters
A good council website should not simply display information. It should help residents understand where to go, what to read and how to take action.
For Chard Town Council, the website provides a central online place for council business, public information, services, documents and community updates. It reflects the needs of a busy Somerset town council while keeping the structure clear enough for residents to use.
For other town and parish councils, this case study shows how a council website can be built around:
- Resident access
- Clear navigation
- Democratic transparency
- Accessibility monitoring
- Secure website foundations
- Practical content management
- Community information
- Long-term support
Council website services from SlashDotDash Ltd
- New council websites
- Website redesigns
- WordPress council websites
- .gov.uk website projects
- WCAG accessibility support
- Accessibility statements
- Meeting and agenda sections
- Council policy areas
- Finance document areas
- Grant funding pages
- Councillor and officer pages
- Contact forms
- Report a problem forms
- News and notice sections
- Secure hosting
- SSL setup
- Backups and maintenance
- Free website training
- Ongoing website support
Frequently asked questions
Can SlashDotDash Ltd create websites for town councils?
Yes. SlashDotDash Ltd designs and builds responsive websites for councils, charities, schools and businesses, with WordPress website services focused on practical, secure and manageable websites.
Can you create a website for a parish council as well?
Yes. The same approach can be used for parish councils, town councils and other local organisations that need a clear, accessible and easy-to-update website.
Can you help with WCAG accessibility?
Yes. SlashDotDash Ltd can help with accessibility-focused website structure, page layout, content presentation and accessibility checks. Public-sector websites should work towards WCAG 2.2 AA and publish an accessibility statement unless a valid exception applies.
Can you help organise agendas, minutes and policies?
Yes. Council websites often need dedicated areas for meetings, agendas, minutes, finance documents, grants, policies and statutory information. The Chard Town Council website is structured with dedicated council sections for meetings, finances, grants and policies.
Will council staff be able to update the website?
Yes. SlashDotDash Ltd’s WordPress website service includes training and support so users can feel confident using their website.
Can you support the website after launch?
Yes. SlashDotDash Ltd provides WordPress website support, maintenance and hosting options, including backups, SSL, security monitoring and ongoing improvements.
Ready to create a better council website?
SlashDotDash Ltd can help your town or parish council create a website that is clear, accessible, secure and easy to manage.
Whether you need a new council website, a redesign, accessibility improvements, UK-based support, WordPress hosting or training for council staff, we can help you build a website that works for residents and the people who manage it.
Already have a council website? We can review it and recommend practical improvements.
