Add Parish Councils to WriteToThem

[dracos]

We now have boundaries of parish councils in mapit. We don't have any contact information.

It would be good for WriteToThem to at least show parish councils (they can vary in importance, but e.g. Salisbury City Council covers the entire city - replacing the district council from pre April 2009 - and many parishes are responsible for local issues around), and ask people to find contact details if we don't have them. I don't imagine we'll be able to do individual parish councillors, but the secretary/contact for the council might well do.

Some links: http://www.nalc.gov.uk/ http://www2.tagish.co.uk/tagish/localgov/Town.htm http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/corporate/parishtown.nsf/All+contacts?openview&collapseview http://www.leicestershireparishcouncils.org/ http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=14651 http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/council/government/parish.htm http://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/council/council_works/other_councils/town_and_parish_councils/ http://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/home/youandyourcommunity/communitylocalcontacts/home/youandyourcommunity/communitylocalcontacts/parishes/parisheslist.htm http://www.northyorks.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=5890 http://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/wps/portal/publicsite/doitonline/finditonline/councillorscommittees?page=aboutyourcouncil.parish http://www.hertsdirect.org/yrccouncil/localgovorg/townparish/ http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/moderngov/mgParishCouncilDetails.asp?bcr=1 http://democracy.bedfordshire.gov.uk/mgParishCouncilDetails.asp?bcr=1&ls=15&sls=1&zTS=C http://www2.northumberland.gov.uk/PSCM/PSCMList_parish.asp http://www.wokingham.gov.uk/council-meetings-democracy/parish-town-councils/town-parish-council-contacts http://www.ncaptc.gov.uk/default.asp?page=parish-councils.htm http://www3.hants.gov.uk/localgov/parish.htm

[confirmordeny]

Parish Councils are often quite small so the main contact tends to be the Clerk. WhatDoTheyKnow already has contact details for over 1,000 Parish Councils - usually either the clerk or a general enquiries email address.[1]

Perhaps there would a smart way to share the list across the two sites.

[1] http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/body/list/parish_council

[MyfanwyNixon]

+1 for Parish Councillors to be added, via email feedback.

[MyfanwyNixon]

Email feedback: "Would it be possible to enable an extension of this amazing resource to town/parish Councillors?

Even if it was in a 'push' mode (i.e. I would have to submit my information to be included) rather than being automatically populated (as i can understand that would be a huge task).

I would be very happy to help do this for my local area - because I would love to be able to send one link to residents which had all the info :)

At the moment i have to send a short guide to which level of councillor to target with which type of issues, then this link and then a link to the town/parish council site plus guidance as to who on that site looks after them. One house can be in 3 differently titled areas for parish, district and county and it isn't easy for people to understand!"

[TomSteinberg]

Idea for PopIt. Once the UI is good enough to launch, run an campaign specifically targetted at Parish clerks (!) asking them to make an instance and keep their councillors up to date. Then WTT could suck in the ones provided.

[MyfanwyNixon]

More demand: "I'm a Parish Councillor and I would like to see Parish Councillor details added to the system to make it easy for residents to contact us about issues we can help them with."

[MyfanwyNixon]

" I think it would be really useful to include [...] Parish Councillors"

[MyfanwyNixon]

I was slightly disappointed that the Parish councillors were not include, I have tried the Chairman and clerk to get a list, with NO success. Will have to call on the chairman.

[MyfanwyNixon]

What would it take to add Parish Councils on as a single entry per parish? Although the data sets are there, in most cases, to do it by Parish Boundaries, I don't think it would work at Parish ward level logistically. Through NALC, it might be possible to get most council websites, and possibly a contact. I'm a Clerk and so I admit it would be a case of addressing it to ONE email address per Parish or Town Council is still a big ask, but that's still better than none.

But it is important especially as I run a Town Council with a turn over of £770k and yet there's no mention that actually we might be the relevant person to be lobbied.

[MyfanwyNixon]

We are elected to serve the electorate too, and while we have a smaller mandate that Councillors, MPs, MEPs and Lords, and surely the first tier of local government should be included too!

[MyfanwyNixon]

A further request for this via Twitter DM.

[MyfanwyNixon]

And another.