Community website MyTunstall.co.uk, developed and maintained by Adaptive, has received praise from Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt during a speech in Oxford.

Speaking at the Oxford Media Convention on 19th January, Mr Hunt cited MyTunstall as an great example of a hyperlocal site which brings the community together online.

His speech centred on the need for increasingly-localised media outlets, particularly utilising online technology, to satisfy growing priority that the public are putting on local content.

Speaking specifically about how hyperlocal websites can bring communities together in a common cause, Mr Hunt said: "Sites like MyTunstall in Stoke-on-Trent encouraged local people to band together to help clear roads and pathways and make it easier for everyone to travel around."

The comment referenced MyTunstall's recent campaign during the snowy weather in December to encourage local residents to help clear public paths and roads of the snow enable the whole community to get about easier during the bad weather.

The MyTunstall website has been developed by Adaptive's Matt Burke, who also maintains the website on a day-to-day basis for his local community.

The website, built in Drupal, is a showcase of how residents, businesses and community leaders can come together using online technology to work together and create a better community for all concerned. The site combines local news and information with discussions, photos and Neighbourhood Watch updates together with other local services such as a business directory and local events diary.

Crucially, the site enables anyone in the local area to easily add their own news, views and events to the site, creating a valuable online community hub.

Among those local organisations using the MyTunstall site to connect better with the local community are Staffordshire Police, whose Communications Manager, David Bailey, backed the Culture Secretary's praise for the site.

Responding to a story on MyTunstall about Mr Hunt's comments, Mr Bailey said: "Well Done everyone involved in MyTunstall. Jeremy Hunt visited [Staffordshire Police] at the end of last year and saw how we are involved in MyTunstall and other community sites."

Mr Bailey added: "I believe this a model of community engagement that should be used across our county."

Adaptive's approach to community engagement through digital platforms can be used in any number of applications, be it in other local community websites such as the Adaptive-built Spondon Online and People's Archive platforms, empowerment sites such as Campaign Central or in business applications such as the Social in the Workplace development recently created for NES Recruitment.

These sites are great examples of how Adaptive can utilise the power of Drupal to create attractive, interactive - and now Ministerially-recommended - websites which can engage and inspire their users.

To view the full transcript of Mr Hunt's speech, please click here.