Blogger welcomes Carmarthenshire Council's filming plans
A BLOGGER who was removed from a council meeting after it was thought she was filming has welcomed the news that it could now be allowed.
Carmarthenshire Council announced this week that it had plans for a pilot live broadcast stream of its full council meetings.
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Blogger Jacqui Thompson
Mrs Thompson welcomed the announcement — despite claming that she feels cynical over the timing of it. "They're planning on streaming it so it will be unedited, which is different to their original proposals," she said.
"It's a start, the pilot is just full council meetings, but I would hope that they will extend it to any meetings in the chamber, especially planning and executive board meetings."
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The e-government initiative, aimed at improving services to the public, must go before full council to be approved.
It will involve live streaming of meetings and the footage will also be available to view on the council website after the meetings.
Expected to cost around £20,000 per year, the 12-month pilot project is being funded through a Welsh Government grant, which will also provide funding for improvements to town and community council websites.
"There's a long way to go," added Mrs Thompson, of Llanwrda.
"I hope people use it if they do it, I hope people prove that it's needed.
"It will finally give people a chance to see what's being said, what's been decided and it will also be of benefit to the council in that there will be less myths surrounding what's going on.
"I still believe the public should have a right to film and record."
She added that she hoped other councils followed suit.
A date is yet to be determined for the start of the pilot scheme, but it will be in the near future.
3 Comments
by Carnabwth
Friday, March 01 2013, 12:48AM
“Dan01 have you ever watched how Carmarthenshire operate?
Any meeting involving Carmarthenshire County Council makes interesting watching and listening. Particularly Planning.”
by MrMustardBlog
Thursday, February 28 2013, 11:47AM
“The meetings of councils should be broadcast in 2013 as the are of interest to concerned residents across the Country as well as locally (I listened to Cornwall CC debate their privatisation and several Barnet residents were glued to the coverage)
Private filming should also be allowed.
Almost every meeting in barnet is filmed by 1,2 or more people.”
by Dan01
Thursday, February 28 2013, 11:23AM
“£20000 p.a. Is that good use of public money, even if it is a WAG grant? How many folk are interested in watching their councillors at work, apart from Mrs Thompson? Most of the TV coverage of WAG has been discontinued through lack of interest.”