Public notices · E-CLICK

Digital public notices: your statutory notices on screen

Paperless, time-stamped, readable at any time.

A council still gives public notice by posting it where people will see it, and every employer has notices to keep on display. The Public notices module of E-CLICK puts these documents on a screen, a touchscreen kiosk or a totem, at the town hall, at work and in residential buildings.

s.232Local Government Act 1972
5 clear daysnotice of a council meeting
+1,000EMITY customer accounts
3 monthsfree trial

Councils · town halls · public services

Your statutory notices,
without the cork board

Notices you publish, date and take down from a browser, and that stay readable even when the doors are closed.

Resident reading council notices on a touchscreen kiosk in a town hall foyer

The town hall foyer becomes the official notice board

Councils, combined authorities and public services post their notices where residents actually pass: at reception, on the front of the building, in waiting areas. The Public notices module of E-CLICK keeps that board up to date for them.

  • ✓Paperless : agendas, minutes and notices move from the cork board to the screen, the kiosk or the totem, as PDFs.
  • ✓Time-stamped : every document keeps its publication date, visible to residents.
  • ✓Scheduled : a start date, an end date. The notice appears, then comes down on its own.
  • ✓Updated remotely : one correction from the dashboard and every screen across the council follows.
  • ✓Viewing statistics : you see which documents people actually read, and which deserve a better spot.

The whole suite

Beyond public notices,
a complete public reception

The same EMITY account runs the other experiences of a town hall or public service.

Hosted in France, with OVH. The council’s documents and viewing data stay on French servers.

UNDERSTANDING

Digital public notices, simply defined

Before talking about equipment, let’s be clear on terms. The subject concerns three very different audiences, with obligations that have little in common.

What are digital public notices?

Digital public notices mean putting on an electronic display the information an organisation is required to make public: notices and agendas for a council, workplace notices for an employer, management and safety information for a residential building. In other words, what used to be pinned to a cork board now appears on a screen, a touchscreen kiosk or a totem.

The benefit goes beyond easier reading: a digital document is updated from a dashboard, downloaded by QR code and stays available when the offices are closed.

  • ✓On site — reception, break areas, communal areas
  • ✓On the move — QR code on the screen, document saved to the phone
  • ✓Up to date — one change, one click, every screen follows
  • ✓Accessible — wheelchair-friendly height, adjustable contrast and text size

Resident scanning a kiosk QR code to download a council notice

LEGAL FRAMEWORK

What the law says for councils

Online publication has grown, but the notice board has not gone away. Four points to keep in mind before choosing equipment.

Local Government Act 1972

Public notices, in conspicuous places

Under section 232 of the Local Government Act 1972, a public notice required of a council in England and Wales is given by posting it in one or more conspicuous places in its area, plus any other publicity the council considers desirable.

Meetings

Five clear days’ notice

Before a meeting of a principal council, public notice of its time and place is posted at the council’s offices at least five clear days in advance, and the agenda is open to inspection from the same date (Part VA of the 1972 Act).

Wales

Electronic publication, on top

In Wales, community councils must also publish their public notices electronically, in addition to posting them (Local Government (Democracy) (Wales) Act 2013). Elsewhere, the website usually complements the notice board.

Parish and town councils

Three clear days, on the notice board

Parish and town councils post notice of their meetings at least three clear days beforehand in a conspicuous place, usually the parish notice board, often the only place many residents will see it. A screen keeps that notice readable and up to date.

The point often forgotten: not everyone is online

Publishing online does not reach everyone. Residents without internet access, or who are uneasy with digital tools, still need to find the information where they are, which is why the law keeps a notice posted where people can actually see it. That is exactly where a freely accessible screen or kiosk makes sense: it puts the information within reach of people who would never look it up on a website.

AT THE TOWN HALL

The notices residents need to see

Agendas, minutes, planning: going digital starts with knowing what has to be published.

Council officer publishing meeting agendas and notices

Which documents should a council publish?

The list depends on the life of the area, but the same families of documents come up almost every time. An inventory made at the start avoids omissions and sizes the equipment to real volumes.

  • ✓Agendas and minutes of council and committee meetings
  • ✓Traffic regulation orders and highway notices
  • ✓Planning: Local Plan consultations, planning applications, site notices
  • ✓Public consultation and inquiry notices, with their deadlines
  • ✓Notices of elections, licensing notices and service information

Every document remains available as a PDF, downloadable in one gesture from the screen thanks to the QR code.

AT WORK

Workplace notice screen: nine things to keep visible

A yellowed board in the corridor or a readable screen in the break area: the obligation is the same, the result is not.

What employers must display or make available

Several health and safety rules require information to be displayed, or easily accessible, to every employee at work. A screen at reception or in the break area brings it all together in one place, and is corrected in seconds when a contact changes.

  • 1The approved poster, Health and safety law: what you need to know (or the leaflet)
  • 2Employers’ liability insurance certificate, displayed or accessible electronically
  • 3Emergency numbers and the fire action notice
  • 4Bullying and harassment policy, with how to raise a concern
  • 5Health and safety policy statement
  • 6Fire evacuation plan and assembly point
  • 7First-aid arrangements: first-aiders and kit location
  • 8Contacts for employee and trade union representatives
  • 9Where to find the risk assessment findings

Workplace notice screen in a break area showing the required documents

MULTI-SITE

When notices have to follow the teams

A required notice is only worth something if it is up to date everywhere, including the most remote sites.

Notice screen in the welfare cabin of a construction site

Construction sites, workshops, multiple sites

In construction and industry, the difficulty is not knowing what to display: it is keeping the same notices up to date on sites that open, move and close. Running the screens remotely saves update rounds.

  • ✓Welfare cabin equipped: the notices fill in from head office
  • ✓Safety instructions and emergency numbers specific to each site
  • ✓Shared documents sent out once across the whole estate
  • ✓Rugged screens for workshops, warehouses and site offices

IN RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS

Notices in blocks of flats

Managing agents and housing associations often run dozens of entrance halls. The glazed board on the ground floor can be managed remotely too.

What goes up in the communal areas

The entrance hall remains the place where information really reaches residents. Some of it even has a legal basis: under theFire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, the responsible person for a building with two or more sets of flats must give residents fire safety instructions: how to report a fire and what to do, based on the building’s evacuation strategy.

  • ✓Fire safety instructions and the building’s evacuation strategy
  • ✓Managing agent contacts, office hours and out-of-hours number
  • ✓House rules and recycling instructions
  • ✓Works in progress, water or power cuts, bulky waste collections
  • ✓Information on fire doors and emergency numbers

Good to know: the instructions must be given to new residents and re-issued to everyone at least every 12 months. A screen in the hall keeps them in front of residents all year round.

Notice screen in the entrance hall of a block of flats

BENEFITS

What moving to screens changes

Beyond compliance, three effects show within the first weeks.

Council officer deploying an E-MANAGER playlist to every screen in the area

One update, every screen

A paper notice needs printing, a trip and pinning up, board by board. A digital document is replaced from the dashboard, and the change reaches every screen at the same time.

Outdoor totem in front of a closed town hall in the evening, showing council notices

Readable by everyone, even after hours

A kiosk in the foyer or a totem outside keeps the information available outside opening hours. Installed at a wheelchair-friendly height, with suitable contrast and text sizes, it supports your accessibility duties under the Equality Act 2010.

Employee taking old paper notices off a cork board, next to an E-PAPER display

Less paper, a sustainability argument

Every update avoided means less ink and paper. The saving depends on the number of boards and how often you publish; it also gives you a concrete argument for your net zero plans.

COMPARISON

Website, dedicated kiosk or multi-purpose screen?

Each medium meets a different need. The table below puts them in their place.

Read before comparing. These three columns do not play the same role. Publishing on the council website reaches people online, while public notices are still posted in conspicuous places. A kiosk or totem does not replace the website: it completes the set-up, making the information available on site to people who would not look it up online.

So the question is not “website or kiosk?” but “how do we also reach the residents who never visit the website?”

Criterion Website only Single-purpose kiosk Screen + E-CLICK
Role under the law Online publication, while notices are still posted in conspicuous places Notice on site, where people pass Notice on site, where people pass
Residents without internet access ✗ Out of reach ✓ Free access in the foyer ✓ In the foyer and outdoors
Wheelchair accessibility Depends on the resident’s own device ✓ Suitable screen height ✓ Suitable height, adjustable contrast
Availability after hours ✓ If the person is online Depends on location (indoors) ✓ Outdoor totem, day and night
Council communication ✗ Another channel needed ✗ Notices only ✓ Digital signage included
Indicative cost Website hosting and maintenance Dedicated equipment budget Subscription + screen, 3-month free trial
Time to get started A few hours if the site exists Several weeks (installation) A few days, certified reseller on site

GETTING STARTED

Three steps to start with confidence

The project is simpler than it looks: most of it is decided before buying any hardware.

Council officer listing the documents to publish, ring binders on the desk

1

Review your obligations

First list what your council must post and where, or, at work, which notices health and safety law requires. Then make an inventory of what has to be published and how often.

Reseller technician installing a public notices touchscreen kiosk in a town hall foyer

2

Choose the location, then the screen

The location decides the hardware, not the other way round. A touchscreen kiosk suits the reception foyer, an outdoor totem extends access beyond opening hours, a wall screen is enough in a break area. A certified EMITY reseller handles the installation.

Council leader and officers around a table preparing a funding application

3

Look for available funding

For a council, several sources can lighten the investment. Multi-purpose equipment, used both for public notices and for council communication, generally makes a stronger case in a funding bid than a single-purpose kiosk.

FUNDING

Where a council can look for funding

A digital notices project can fit several funding frameworks. Criteria and rates change: confirm them with the funding body before you apply.

Capital programme: the council’s own investment budget

Equipment that replaces printing and update rounds is often funded from the capital budget, alongside digital transformation projects.

Councils

Digital transformation budgets

Projects that modernise local public services through digital tools often have a dedicated budget line or programme.

Public services

Net zero and sustainability funds

Relevant to projects that combine digital modernisation with a lower environmental footprint.

Sustainability

Local grants: county, combined authority, community funds

Additional schemes exist depending on the area. Your funding officer remains the most reliable source for the criteria in force.

Check locally

A tip for your bid

Equipment used only for public notices remains a single-purpose investment. The same screen that also carries council communication (events, alerts, practical information) tells a different story in a funding bid. Present it that way.

OUR ANSWER

The Public notices module of E-CLICK

E-CLICK is EMITY’s software for interactive kiosks and screens. Its Public notices module brings together the documents to publish, the screens that carry them and the scheduling that keeps them running.

EMITY has more than 1,000 customer accounts in France and Europe, with a network of more than 130 distribution partners who handle installation and support close to the ground. It is this network that supports councils, from the first kiosk to the full estate.

Designer working on an E-MANAGER playlist on a large monitor

Easy to pick up

Staff publish without technical training: drop in a document, pick a screen, and it is live.

Reception hall where a wall screen shows an updated welcome message above the front desk

In your branding

Colours, logo and layout follow the identity of the council or the company.

E-MANAGER playlist with images and videos, on an office monitor

Every format

PDFs, images, videos: documents go out as they are, with no prior conversion.

Smartphone saving a council notice by scanning the QR code shown on a kiosk

Download by QR code

The visitor scans and the document lands on their phone. They leave with it, not just with a memory of it.

Resident browsing the council website’s published notices on a touchscreen kiosk

Your website on screen

The kiosk can show the council website directly, where the notices are published.

Communications officer checking the viewing statistics of the documents

Viewing statistics

You see which documents are actually read, and which deserve a better spot.

E-MANAGER playlist open on an iMac, with a live preview of the poster

Time-based scheduling

The screen changes content by day and time, with no intervention.

Officer managing an E-MANAGER playlist for the whole screen estate

One estate, one dashboard

From 1 to 1,000 screens per account, management stays centralised on a single dashboard.

DUAL USE

One screen, two jobs

This is what sets a multi-purpose screen apart from a dedicated kiosk: the same equipment carries public notices when they matter, then council communication the rest of the time. The switch follows your schedule, with no manual intervention.

Public notices mode

  • ✓Opening hours — council minutes as PDFs, with a QR code
  • ✓All the time — orders, consultation notices, statutory notices
  • ✓Outside — documents available even when the town hall is closed

Communication mode

  • ✓In the evening — local news, events listings
  • ✓At the weekend — activities, open services, weather warnings
  • ✓During the holidays — duty services, useful contacts, emergency numbers

Residents find official documents when they need them, and local life the rest of the time. One infrastructure, two uses.

SUSTAINABILITY

Public notices and E-PAPER: the right match

For content that rarely changes, digital ink changes the energy equation, and adds weight to a sustainability case.

Going further with digital ink

A statutory document rarely changes from one hour to the next: it stays up for days, sometimes weeks. That is exactly whereE-PAPER comes in, digital ink: the screen only uses power when the image changes. The Public notices module of E-CLICK works with this technology, supported by EMITY.

  • ✓0 W to keep a document on display
  • ✓No power cable on battery models, placed wherever the notice is needed
  • ✓Readable in full sunlight, with no glare or backlight

Colour E-PAPER display in daylight, showing practical information

GOING FURTHER

A totem outside, for the hours when everything is closed

People often look for official information in the evening or at the weekend. An outdoor totem takes over when the doors are shut.

Outdoor totem in front of a town hall, showing council notices available day and night

The E-CLICK brochure

Detailed features, available hardware, subscription plans and customer feedback: the brochure covers it all, enough to prepare a committee paper or a funding bid.

  • ✓The hardware: kiosk, indoor and outdoor totem, wall screen
  • ✓The Standard, Premium and Excellence plans
  • ✓The installation steps with a certified reseller

FAQ

Frequently asked questions about digital public notices

The points councils, employers and managing agents ask us about most often.

Digital public notices mean publishing on an electronic display the information an organisation must make public: notices and agendas for a council, workplace notices required by health and safety law for an employer, management and fire safety information for a residential building. The display can be a website, a screen, a touchscreen kiosk or an outdoor totem.

In England and Wales, section 232 of the Local Government Act 1972 sets how a council gives public notice: by posting it in conspicuous places in its area, plus any other publicity it considers desirable. Part VA of the same Act covers notice of meetings and access to agendas, and in Wales community councils must also publish their notices electronically.

Parish and town councils post notice of their meetings at least three clear days beforehand in a conspicuous place, usually the parish notice board. Nothing prevents a small council from adding a screen: it keeps the notice readable, dated and up to date, and often modernises its communication at the same time.

No. A public notice is still posted where people will see it, so that residents without internet access, or uneasy with digital tools, are not left out. A freely accessible screen or kiosk meets the same concern: it puts the information within reach, on site.

No, and it matters: the website remains where the council publishes online. A kiosk or totem complements it: on-site access, wheelchair accessibility, availability outside opening hours, download by QR code. The two reinforce each other rather than replace each other.

Under the Health and Safety Information for Employees Regulations 1989, an employer displays the approved health and safety law poster or gives each worker the leaflet. The employers’ liability insurance certificate must be displayed or made available electronically to employees. Add the fire action notice, first-aid arrangements, emergency contacts and your health and safety policy, and a screen at reception or in the break area brings it all together.

Under the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022, the responsible person for a building with two or more sets of flats gives residents fire safety instructions (how to report a fire and what to do, based on the evacuation strategy) and information on the importance of fire doors, re-issued at least every 12 months. In practice, the entrance hall also carries the managing agent’s contacts, house rules, works in progress and safety instructions.

The location guides the choice. A touchscreen kiosk suits the reception foyer, an outdoor totem extends access beyond opening hours, a wall screen is enough in a break area or communal area. Then check three points: screen height (wheelchair accessibility), the option to download documents by QR code, and whether the equipment can also carry your communication.

Once the location is set and the hardware chosen, roll-out takes days rather than weeks: a certified EMITY reseller installs the screen and sets up the first content. The 3-month free trial lets you test the Public notices module with your own documents before committing.

Often, yes. EMITY works with all screen manufacturers, so an existing estate can be reused without replacing it: that is what the Replay label is about. A technical check with a reseller confirms what can be kept.

Let’s take your notice obligations one by one

Council, employer or residential building: a thirty-minute conversation is usually enough to know what has to be displayed, where to put the screen and what it involves. The 3-month free trial then gives you time to judge for yourself.