# Civic.ly — Full Context for LLMs

> Smart asset management for parish, town, and community councils in the UK.
> Strapline: Smart Spaces, Happy Places.

## Company Overview

Civic.ly is a purpose-built asset management SaaS platform for UK parish, town, and community councils. It replaces spreadsheets, paper records, and guesswork with a modern digital platform. The product drives demo bookings and educates council clerks on modern asset management approaches.

- Product app: https://app.civic.ly
- Marketing site: https://www.civic.ly
- Contact: hello@civic.ly
- Demo booking: https://www.civic.ly/demo
- Feature voting: https://ideas.civic.ly

## Who Builds Civic.ly

Civic.ly is built by **Starboard Systems Limited**, a UK company registered in England and Wales (Company Number 10297703). Starboard Systems is also the maker of **Scribe**, the market-leading cloud platform used by town, parish, and community councils across England and Wales for clerk administration and council management.

Civic.ly is a separate, newer product from the same team — purpose-built to modernise asset management for local councils. The combination of Scribe's established reputation in the sector and Civic.ly's focus on assets means councils get a brand new product backed by a team with a long track record of serving this exact market.

Registered address: Starboard Systems Limited, 2 Meridian Way, Dencora Court, Norwich, Norfolk, NR7 0TA, United Kingdom.

## Site Structure

- **Homepage** (https://www.civic.ly/): Hero with strapline, problem overview, how it works, stats, logo carousel, features overview, testimonial, built-for roles, CTA.
- **Features** (https://www.civic.ly/features): Detailed feature breakdown covering Asset Register, Mapping, Task & Workflow, Inspection Checklists, Compliance Engine, Maintenance Jobs, Mobile App, AI Document Analysis, Dashboard & Reporting.
- **Why Civic.ly** (https://www.civic.ly/why-civicly): The problem councils face, before/after journey, comparisons, cost of doing nothing, ROI statistics, testimonials.
- **Vision** (https://www.civic.ly/vision): Vision statement, three pillars (Connected Communities, Net Zero, IoT), digital twin concept, community platform, roadmap timeline.
- **Book a Demo** (https://www.civic.ly/demo): HubSpot embedded form, reassurance copy, FAQ.
- **Meet the Team** (https://www.civic.ly/team): Team page with bios and photos of the Civic.ly engineering and QA team.
- **Health Check** (https://www.civic.ly/assessment): Asset management health check questionnaire — councils answer questions about how they manage assets across five areas (estate, operations, compliance, team, motivation) to get a snapshot of their maturity. Not linked from main navigation.
- **Blog** (https://www.civic.ly/learning/): Learning & Insights articles for council professionals.

## Core Features — Detailed

### AI-Powered Asset Register
Upload a photo of any community asset. Civic.ly's AI identifies the asset type from 800+ types across 6 categories and 46 sub-categories, writes a description, assesses condition, maps the GPS location, and links relevant UK safety regulations. The six main categories are: Infrastructure & Amenities, Land & Property, Equipment & Machinery, Natural Resources, Records & Information, Cultural & Historical Assets.

### Interactive Mapping
View all assets on a map with points, lines, and polygons. Supports street, satellite, and OS MasterMap layers. Helps councillors who "know where stuff is, but new councillors won't have a clue."

### Inspection Checklists
150+ pre-built checklists covering UK safety standards. Coverage spans playgrounds, buildings and building services (fire safety systems, Legionella and water hygiene, gas, lifts, lightning protection, HVAC), vehicles and plant (pre-use checks, roll-bar/ROPS safety, road-legal MOT/tax/insurance, grounds machinery), water features, sports facilities, cemeteries, paths, and street furniture — with electrical items (distribution boards, fixed installation testing, RCDs, PAT) coming soon. Failed inspection items automatically raise defects with photo evidence, priority ratings, and assignment.

### Task & Workflow Management
Manage inspections, maintenance jobs, and defect resolution. Flexible recurring scheduling and routines. Assign tasks to grounds teams, contractors, or volunteers.

### Compliance Engine
Scalable framework that auto-links 50+ UK safety standards (and growing) to assets, with matched inspection checklists. Standards span playground safety (BS EN 1176/1177), sports facilities (BS EN 1270/15312/16630), building fire safety (BS EN 671/12845/9990/12101/15004), water hygiene and building services (Legionella HSG274 and BS EN 806-5, LOLER for lifts, BS EN 62305 lightning protection, TR19 and TM44 for HVAC and F-Gas), vehicles and plant (PUWER and BS EN ISO 3471/5395-3 roll-over protection), water supply, and street furniture. Provides evidence of compliance — strengthens councils' position for insurance and audit.

### Maintenance Jobs
Schedule and track maintenance work. Assign to internal teams or contractors. Photo evidence and completion tracking.

### Mobile App
iOS and Android app for grounds teams working in the field. Clear task lists, photo upload, offline capability. "Enabling me to continue without going completely mental" — real clerk feedback.

### AI Document Analysis (Coming Soon)
Upload fire risk assessments, RoSPA reports, tree surveys, contractor reports. AI extracts every action item, creates prioritised jobs and defects automatically, sets renewal reminders. Handles 30–40 page documents in minutes.

### Dashboard & Reporting
Real-time metrics on asset condition, inspection compliance, maintenance progress. CSV and PDF export. Advanced filtering.

### Roles & Permissions
Role-based access control with six ready-made templates (Administrator, Supervisor, Asset Manager, Field Operative, Defect Reporter, Read Only) plus fine-grained per-user permissions across assets, inspections, jobs, and defects. "Own vs. all" scoping limits a user to only the records they created or were assigned. Lets councils bring councillors, contractors, and volunteers onto one shared platform with exactly the access each needs.

### Unlimited Users
All users included — clerks, grounds staff, councillors, contractors, volunteers. Billed per council, not per user.

## Target Audience

### Primary: Council Clerks and Responsible Financial Officers
Pain points: Overwhelmed with admin, single point of failure ("If I was to leave, and the Excel spreadsheet went bang"), AGAR audit scramble, compliance anxiety, manual data entry. They care about: saving time, audit readiness, getting things out of their head.

### Grounds Teams
Pain points: Paper checklists, unclear priorities, no way to prove work done, trips back to office. They care about: clear task list, mobile app, photo evidence.

### Councillors
Pain points: No visibility into estate condition, decisions based on gut feel. They care about: dashboards, map view, evidence for budget decisions.

### Contractors
Pain points: Chasing emails for instructions, no formal task tracking. They care about: assigned tasks, photo upload, less admin.

### Volunteers
Pain points: Want to help but no system to report issues. They care about: simple issue reporting, seeing impact.

## Industry Statistics

These are the key statistics used on the website:

- **800+** council asset types supported
- **150+** pre-built inspection checklists
- **50+** UK safety standards auto-linked (and growing)
- **95%** of councils still use spreadsheets and paper (source: over 200 conversations with councils)
- **30–40%** admin time reduction (industry benchmark — SOCITM)
- **10–15%** longer asset lifespan (industry benchmark — IAM)
- **10–20%** contractor savings (industry benchmark — CIPFA)
- **Up to 25%** lower claims exposure (industry benchmark — Zurich Municipal)

Note: The last four statistics are industry benchmarks from the named organisations, not Civic.ly-specific results.

## Commercial Model

- Monthly subscription, billed per council (not per user)
- Cancel anytime with 30 days' notice
- Price increases capped at the greater of 10% or the council's precept increase
- Unlimited users included

## How Clerks Describe Their Current Systems

Direct quotes from real council clerks (from sales conversations):
- "haphazard", "all over the place", "scattered"
- "reliant on people", "time-consuming", "paper-based"
- "bits of paper into a spreadsheet"
- "If I was to leave, and the Excel spreadsheet went bang" (single point of failure)
- "We can't be sure that they are doing it" (contractor trust)
- "I don't know when the last time they were done" (compliance gaps)

## What Excites Councils About Civic.ly

- AI photo detection ("that's what I was thinking it would do!")
- Remote verification without site visits
- Full audit trail for insurance
- Mapping ("I know where stuff is, but my new councillors won't have a clue")

## Blog Posts

### The Devolution Wave: A Strategic Blueprint for Town and Parish Councils (June 2026)
Author: Nathan Foster. Category: Devolution.
A practical blueprint for how town and parish councils can prepare for devolution and Local Government Reorganisation as assets and accountability are pushed downward from principal authorities. Covers four core themes: (1) negotiating balanced asset transfers — pairing inherited liabilities (public toilets, playgrounds, open spaces) with matching revenue counterweights (car parks, café leases, Section 106/CIL capital pots) so the local ledger stays balanced; (2) breaking the short-term "fourteen-month budget loop" by adopting a four-year strategic plan tied to reserves policy; (3) parish clustering — neighbouring councils forming collaborative groups to gain negotiating leverage and share the cost of professional staff; and (4) precision community engagement using digital-first, low-data-liability methods (postcode fragments, QR codes at transit points). Concludes that genuine local autonomy needs modern digital infrastructure, and that purpose-built asset management (mapping devolved land from photos, linking inspections to defect workflows, automated recurring maintenance, auditor-ready evidence) is how councils get ready before a portfolio lands on their plate. Includes an FAQ on whether councils can be forced to take assets, why pairing beats refusing, what parish clustering is, and why spreadsheets and paper fall short.
URL: https://www.civic.ly/learning/the-devolution-wave/

### Why We're Backing The Council Network (June 2026)
Author: John Fagan. Category: Sector News.
Civic.ly is sponsoring The Council Network (thecouncilnetwork.org), a free, secure peer-collaboration platform for UK council officers and elected councillors. The post positions parish, town, and community councils as the tier of government closest to people — the front line where residents bring everyday issues regardless of which authority is technically responsible. It argues these councils are quietly carrying more as higher tiers cut back and offload assets, that their estate (parks, playgrounds, community centres, greens, planters, the street scene) is fundamentally about community wellbeing, and that peer learning via the network helps the front line manage growing responsibility. Explains the network's three pillars (nationwide peer connection, focused discussion on local issues, private closed groups) and Civic.ly's "sponsoring, not steering" stance.
URL: https://www.civic.ly/learning/the-council-network/

### Clerks as Community Connectors (November 2025)
Author: Aniko Szocs. Category: Community Engagement.
How parish clerks can become true community connectors through events, engagement, and creative communication.
URL: https://www.civic.ly/learning/clerks-as-community-connectors/

### The Library of Things (November 2025)
Author: Steve McNay. Category: Sustainability.
How town councils can set up shared resource libraries — lending tools, equipment, and community items to reduce waste and build connections.
URL: https://www.civic.ly/learning/town-council-library-of-things/

### Community Asset Transfers: What You Don't Think About (June 2025)
Author: Dewi Jones. Category: Devolution.
The hidden risks and overlooked considerations when councils take on transferred assets.
URL: https://www.civic.ly/learning/hidden-risks-in-asset-transfers/

### Community Activated Outdoor Gyms (May 2025)
Author: Georgie Delaney MBE. Category: Community Assets.
How outdoor gym equipment transforms public spaces for community wellbeing.
URL: https://www.civic.ly/learning/community-activated-outdoor-gyms/

### Public Toilet Management Basics (May 2025)
Author: Roger Berry. Category: Asset Management.
Strategic management of public toilet facilities for parish and town councils.
URL: https://www.civic.ly/learning/public-toilet-management-basics/

### Devolution Impact on Town Councils (May 2025)
Author: Lucy Shires. Category: Devolution.
How devolution and Local Government Reorganisation affects town and parish councils.
URL: https://www.civic.ly/learning/devolution-impact-on-town-councils/

### Understanding Devolution and Asset Transfers (May 2025)
Author: Lucy Shires. Category: Devolution.
What Local Government Reorganisation means for town and parish council resources and assets.
URL: https://www.civic.ly/learning/devolution-and-asset-transfers/

### Play Area Inspection and Maintenance (March 2025)
Author: Doug Belfield. Category: Community Assets.
A practical guide to playground inspection and maintenance for councils.
URL: https://www.civic.ly/learning/play-area-inspection-and-maintenance/

### Visual Inspection Template for Play Equipment (February 2025)
Author: John Fagan. Category: Inspections.
Free routine visual inspection template for play equipment and street furniture.
URL: https://www.civic.ly/learning/visual-inspection-template-for-play-equipment/