Histon and Impington is a big step closer to setting up an innovative online News “Hub” with thanks to South Cambs District Council which has approved the £1,000 grant request to its newly-opened Community Chest Grants scheme. This is wonderful news and shows how important this SCDC funding can be for community and voluntary groups across the district. The H&I “Hub” aims to further strengthen our community and ensure that everyone involved in Histon and Impington life has easy and regular news and information about the many and various opportunities, facilities and services available in the village. The value of what’s called ‘hyper-local’ journalism is a growing movement around the country, especially as more people start searching for timely and reliable sources of information in a sea of social media conversation.
The co-founders of the Hub have taken great care to ensure that this service would be a complement to – and not a replacement of – existing communication efforts that serve the cmmunity. Here’s some of the information that they provided to the Community Chest Grants scheme:
What do we mean by a ‘hub’?
The idea we are exploring is for a village website that will be a single central reference point for a wide range of content, combined with a weekly email round-up giving regular notifications of new content on the website, and potentially an app to enable people to select the content feed they want.
Aims of The Hub: The concept of a communication ‘hub’ for the village has a number of objectives:
- To connect the less-connected (e.g. commuters who spend little time in the village; people new to the village; non-users of social media)
- To provide more timely information to more people (e.g events; consultation responses; job opportunities)
- To provide deeper information and reliable news about opportunities for the community and key issues that will affect local residents and businesses
- To encourage local employers to use local labour
- To encourage greater use of local traders and services
- To encourage greater involvement in village activities and initiatives
- To streamline the administrative effort behind village-wide communications
This would be a complement to, and NOT a replacement for, any of the communications already serving the village. Content would include:
- News about matters of village-wide interest, including parish council announcements and consultations
- Features about village life and people
- ‘What’s On’ details with calendar of forthcoming events
- Advertising of jobs based in the village
- Advertising for volunteers and helpers for village events
- Listings of community organisations, clubs, societies and facilities, with links to their own websites
- Listings and advertising for local traders, with links to their own websites
hiopcouncillors 