31 parish websites, and not one lets you book the hall
I read the websites of Maidstone borough's parish councils, the 31 that have websites, to see what they give a resident. Lots of PDFs, about 19 hall pages, and not one online booking, allotment list or way to comment on planning.
Declared interest first: I build one of these things. It’s called Beacon and it’s a website platform for parish councils. So treat what follows as written by someone with a stake in the answer, and check it yourself. Every site I looked at is public.
This week I read the websites of Maidstone borough’s parish councils (the 31 that have websites), front page and menus, to see what they actually give a resident. Three of them are my own neighbours: Nettlestead, Yalding, Hunton. The rest I’d never visited.
Here’s what I found, and none of it needs a degree to understand.
What most of them have: a list of PDFs, a contact address, and a village hall page. Around 19 of the 31 have some kind of hall or pavilion page. Not one lets you book it online. Not one shows you a live calendar. A few list the hourly rate and then send you to an email address.
What some of them have, and the rest don’t:
- A neighbourhood, parish or community plan: roughly a dozen. If you live in the other nineteen, ask your clerk whether your parish has one, and where it’s published.
- A defibrillator page or map: nine. In an emergency you call 999 and the call handler tells you where the nearest one is and gives you the code. But if you’ve never seen the list, you don’t know which pub or phone box to run towards.
- An asset register published: about eight. CIL returns: about seven. These are the dull documents that tell you what the council owns and what it did with developer money.
What none of them have: an online allotment waiting list, online fee payment, or any way to comment on a planning application through the council’s own site. Planning is the main legal job of a parish council. It is a consultee on every application. And not one of the 31 lets a resident see the parish’s response and add their own view in one place.
Three of them carry a warning about a fake “Parish.UK Network” site that has been going after councils. That’s worth knowing if you’re a clerk and someone you’ve never heard of emails you about your website. Ask for a real name, a real address and a way to check them. (Yes, that includes me. My trial lets you check the page source and the browser console and doesn’t ask for a card.)
This is why BUILD UK keeps going on about parish councils. They are the closest tier of government to anyone, they cost most households very little, and they are the easiest place for ordinary people to get a vote and a voice. Our proposed baseline for every parish is simple: five minutes free public speech with no pre-screening, closed items listed on the agenda and summarised in the minutes, draft minutes inside seven days, and a running spending sheet on the website. A website that does those is a website where a resident can see what’s going on without having to ask.
How far to trust this: I read the pages through a summarising tool, not by clicking every link. “I didn’t see it” doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Counts are rounded for that reason. If your parish has something I’ve said is missing, tell me and I’ll correct it.
Sources: the websites of Maidstone borough’s parish councils (the 31 that have websites), read on 3 October 2026. The five parishes I’d already contacted are included.
This post was written using AI as a disclosed accessibility tool by a dyslexic author. The ideas, experience, and policy positions are entirely human.