Agenda item

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The Chairman announced that two written questions had been submitted and had received written responses as circulated within Agenda Supplement 1. Following the previous meeting held on 4 January 2023, Cllr Nabil Najjar asked the Chairman to read out a statement (below) clarifying comments made by officers in the meeting regarding the Malmesbury Heritage Trail app.

“A statement was made that:

‘The [Explore Malmesbury] web app was developed by the University of Winchester.’

There was confusion over who was responsible for the web-app, and we wish to confirm that the app belongs to Malmesbury Town Team CiC. Explore Malmesbury has been created and is operated as the result of a large voluntary community effort led by Malmesbury Town Team linking many local groups including the Town Council, Athelstan Museum, Civic Trust, Warden and Freemen and a large number of volunteers.

Officers had thought from their conversations with Malmesbury that Sprechen Limited, also Winchester based, were closely tied to the University of Winchester. We wish to confirm that this is not the case. The app was developed and is technically supported by a commercial business, Sprechen Limited. Students at the University of Winchester produced some augmented reality content for the app as part of their course work.

A statement was made that:

‘The cost of the Explore Malmesbury web app for each town would be a minimum of £10,000 per town.’ And [Explore Malmesbury] is ‘vastly more expensive’ [than Calvium].

We also wish to clarify that the £10,000 discussed cost was for an optional TV and video development within the app. We can confirm that Malmesbury Town Team has not been invited to quote for the development or supply of the Wiltshire Heritage Trails App against any requirement specification. We therefore cannot provide any comparison of cost between developing the original Calvium supplied Salisbury App or the Explore Malmesbury Web App and we had no basis to report to the Committee that ‘The cost of the Explore Malmesbury web app for each town would be a minimum of £10,000 per town” or that Explore Malmesbury is ‘vastly more expensive’.

Nevertheless, officers reviewed the functionality of a number of solutions at length and concluded that a native app provides substantial advantages over a web-based model, not least, in our view, the ability to make use of mobile functionality, store content on the app, and not require constant mobile connectivity due to GPS, which is an advantage across our more rural communities. This therefore excluded Explore Malmesbury from our further supply consideration.

A statement was made that:

‘The content [on Explore Malmesbury] is delivered by Winchester and has no flexibility.’ and ‘What you see is what you get.’ and ‘Although material can be added it isn’t very straight forward’.

The officers involved in the trail apps programme have a high regard for the Malmesbury web-app, and the work and outreach undertaken around it. We recognise that the content is adaptable, and material can be added by local teams. This is one of several apps reviewed by officers along with the Corsham trails which were highlighted to illustrate the variation in approaches. We recognise that content can be added flexibly.”

Mr Ritchie attended the meeting and presented a further statement in response to the answers given where he gave further context to the parties involved in the creation, development and running of the Malmesbury Town Team’s ‘Explore Malmesbury’ app. He expressed disappointment in the comments made in both the meeting and the subsequent statement and responses to his questions and emphasised his wish to amend the minutes of the previous meeting as per Question 23-01.

The Democratic Services Officer advised that the Committee could amend the minutes if they were so minded but suggested that a note could be attached to the previous minutes referring to Cllr Najjar’s statement. Mr Ritchie agreed to the action suggested.