Midsomer Norton Town Council's Full Council Meeting from Monday (January 9) evening has been broadcast on the Council's YouTube channel. 

This is the second time I've attempted to record our meeting further to feedback from residents who said such a service would be useful. Whereas Local Authorities such as B&NES Council have a sizeable budget and dedicated staff to do such things this is very much a home-made volunteer effort using my own equipment, which is obvious enough from the production.

In my spare time I'm a software developer so I have reasonable IT skills and want to use those to benefit the Council and community. So, to save Midsomer Norton Town Council money, I redeveloped the Council's website entirely myself in the spring of 2022 with an objective of encouraging more people to visit us online, provide information about the Midsomer Norton and the Council and also present the town in the best light. I've long thought visitors to Midsomer Norton are more likely to look us up online before visiting us in person. That's why I've also updated some of the photos on the town's Wikipedia page.

The website has been a huge success with almost six times as many people visiting each month than did previously and, in a effort to further expand the Council's online presence, and drive more visits to the website, I set up a Council YouTube channel.

The Council's channel now has a variety of content, including the last two Full Council meetings and has had over 5000 views in total. I also uploaded an interview with the Community Trust Manager, Alex Davis discussing how important the Town Hall Transformation project is to the Trust and the community groups who use the building.

As well as visiting the Council's website and YouTube channel, I really hope residents come to more meetings in person and come to the Farmers' Market on the first Saturday of each month where the Council share a stall with Somer Valley FM. There is also an election coming in May and it would be great if as many people could stand as possible. The more people get involved, the stronger our community is.

I sit on the sit on the Town Council and have the position of Deputy Mayor. I'm writing in a personal capacity and not on behalf of the Town Council. The Council's YouTube channel is linked from the Council's website and the last meeting is available directly HERE https://youtu.be/sffih2NQAak

https://www.midsomernortontowncouncil.co.uk