Community tech

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Stronger, fairer towns

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A shared digital infrastructure that lets communities, councils and local partners co-create town platforms together, so every pound invested improves things for everyone, not just one postcode.

Community tech

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Stronger, fairer towns.

A shared digital infrastructure that lets communities, councils and local partners co-create town platforms together, so every pound invested improves things for everyone, not just one postcode.

  • Collaboratively owned digital infrastructure for towns
  • Built once, improved continuously, shared across places
  • Value stays in the local ecosystem, not with a vendor
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  • The problem

Why local digital projects get stuck in a rut!

Across the country, the same pattern repeats.

One council commissions a microsite. Another funds a business directory. The BID pays for a white label “community portal”. None of these projects talk to each other, share features or build on what already exists.

Each town ends up paying for the same thing multiple times, and progress barely moves.
Let's solve this together
Everyone builds the same thing, but separately
Money is spent repeatedly on identical features
Projects launch, look good for a bit, then stall
No shared roadmap, no shared learning, no shared progress
Innovation resets every time a new project begins
Innovation resets every time a new project begins
Each town pays more and gets less
No one owns the long term improvement
  • The solution

Community tech

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Not vendor tech

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Let's break the pattern entirely

In a traditional vendor model, the provider dictates pricing, features and the roadmap. Each town is just a customer. Most of the money leaves the local ecosystem and very little improves the shared infrastructure. Community tech flips this.​

Join the community
Communities own the purpose
Residents, businesses, charities and community groups shape what the platform is for and how it should work.
Partners fund improvement, not profit
Councils, BIDs and sponsors fund facilitation, development and long term improvement, instead of vendor margin.
The platform is a shared asset
Every town uses and improves the same infrastructure. Features funded in one place roll out to all.
Fair and sustainable
This creates a fairer and more sustainable model because value stays within the ecosystem.

10

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The challenge

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From ten small projects to one powerful platform

On their own, individual budgets can only go so far. A typical council budget might buy a reasonable site and a bit of functionality, then the project stalls.

Instead of ten towns each spending £10k to reinvent the same wheel, those contributions build a shared platform worth £100k. Every pound spent improves the platform for everyone, not just one town.

Take the challenge
Town one launches a directory
The next, a jobs board
Then a marketplace
The next funds a community hub
Number 5 improves accessibility
Another funds a volunteer pipeline
Another adds a shared events calendar
The next, multi language support
An impact and outcomes dashboard
Another launches a booking system
Shared platform worth £100k.
  • Co-creation

Who owns what in community tech

People, business and charities

They own the content, the interaction and the value created in the system. They decide what matters in their town.

Councils, BIDs and partners

They own the investment and the stewardship, not the profit motive. Their funding ensures:

  • Governance and moderation
  • Development and maintenance
  • Local support and onboarding
  • Long term improvement
your
town
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This is the shared infrastructure layer that all towns use. It is held in trust for participating places and is not built to extract profit.

Think of it like roads, libraries or transport networks, but for local digital infrastructure.

What towns gain from a shared digital infrastructure

Budgets combine instead of compete

Collective investment unlocks innovation that no single town could afford.

Real community ownership

Residents shape the activity. Local businesses benefit from visibility and commerce. Charities gain shared reach.

Every town is future proofed

Features and capabilities improve over time, so no one is stuck with a static site that ages badly.

Local value stays local

Money funds capability, content and development rather than shareholder returns.

Digital inequality is reduced

Smaller or less wealthy towns get access to the same infrastructure lift as larger, better funded areas.

Networks, not isolated projects

When towns collaborate, they become a learning network. Networks can achieve things individual councils never can.

  • Get involved

Join the first towns shaping YourTown

We are bringing together a small group of pioneering towns, councils, BIDs and partners who want to explore this Community Tech model in practice.
If you are interested in:
  • Pooling investment to build shared digital infrastructure
  • Reducing duplication and making budgets go further
  • Giving residents a genuine digital town square
  • Creating fairer access to digital capability across places
Register your interest
  • Get involved

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