Henbury Online
One website for the whole village
Henbury Online is the community website for Henbury in Cheshire. It brings the parish council, local news, events, community organisations and a buy and sell board together in one place, at henburyonline.co.uk. This is a look at what the village asked for, how we built it and how it works now.
Henbury is an active village. Alongside the parish council there are clubs, a church, local businesses and residents who all want to know what is going on. The information already existed, but it was scattered, and keeping any of it current took more effort than the volunteers involved could reasonably give.
The brief
Henbury wanted a single, welcoming home for village life that:
- put council business and community information side by side, without one getting lost behind the other
- could be kept up to date by volunteers, not just a web professional
- worked properly on a phone, which is how most people would use it
- met the accessibility rules that apply to a council website
- looked cared for, so residents would come back to it
What we built
We built Henbury Online on our Community package, which is designed for exactly this kind of multi-purpose site. The navigation was structured so a resident can reach meetings and minutes in one direction and news, events and directories in another, without either feeling like an afterthought.
The everyday sections, news, the events calendar, the organisations directory and the buy and sell board, are all managed through the built-in content editor. A weather panel and a latest-news feed on the home page give the site a reason to be checked regularly. Every page was built to the WCAG 2.2 AA standard, and the council has an accessibility statement in place.
We wrote and structured the starting content with the people running the site, then trained them so they were confident making changes from day one.
The outcome
- one address for everything happening in the village, council and community together
- volunteers keep news, events and directories current themselves, with no technical knowledge needed
- a mobile-friendly, accessible site that meets the council’s obligations
- a home page that gives residents a reason to visit, not a noticeboard they check once a year
Common questions
Is a site like this only for parish councils?
No. Henbury Online serves the whole village. The Community package suits any parish that wants its website to be a hub for local life rather than only a place to publish documents.
Can volunteers keep it up to date, not just the clerk?
Yes. The content editor is built for non-technical users, and access can be shared across as many people as the council wants. Everyone gets training at handover.
Does it meet the accessibility rules?
Yes. Every Parish Council Pigeon site, Henbury Online included, is built to WCAG 2.2 AA, with an accessibility statement published from launch.
You can see Henbury Online for yourself at henburyonline.co.uk, or look at more of our work.
Thinking about a build like this?
The Community
package
The full engagement toolset: unlimited content, an events calendar, an organisations directory, local news and social sharing.
Content, done
with you
Starting content written and structured together with the people running the site, then handover training so volunteers can keep it current.
Accessible
and compliant
Built to WCAG 2.2 AA with an accessibility statement in place, meeting the parish council’s website obligations.
Project at a glance
Henbury Online is a working example of the Community package used as a whole-village hub.
Client Henbury, Cheshire
Type a community website, with parish council and village life together
Package Community, with the full resident-engagement toolset
We delivered site structure, starting content, training and ongoing support
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