Recording Gloucester City Council meetings

[Deleted]

I went to yesterday's full council meeting because I wanted to ask Saj Patel a question about the riding arena. He wasn't there, but he will answer my question later in writing.

I took the opportunity to ask Paul James if members of the public could record council meetings, and 'the man from city council, he say yes', which was quite a surprise. So, the message is that they are happy for anyone to film them.

[Joe K]

Good going, Kay. I guess that explains this...

Filming at council meetings is fine by me, says Gloucester City Council leader Paul James

They didn't actually name you as that member of the public, unusually.

I wouldn't get too optimistic, though. It's his 'personal' view. Plenty of opportunity for others to object at individual meetings? Still a long haul ahead, given how intractable the council tend to be...

[Deleted]

All of the other councillors, Julian Wain and the lawyer woman (whose name I probably know but have forgotten) seemed more than happy with Paul's reply, so that's not just his personal view.

[Joe K]

Well, I hope so, because they'd be fighting a losing battle if they did object. It just woudn't be the first time they made a bad decision.

The question is, will anybody undertake to record meetings? I know that Fair Shares offers video recording, and for free to organisations Reyaz Limahlia thinks 'serve the benefit of the public', but Fair Shares/Gymnasian aren't exactly committed to ensuring that all decisions are placed on record...

[Deleted]

The problem is that the real decisions are made outside of public meetings.

[Joe K]

Yes, that's what I was thinking. Still, at least we get a proper record of our questions, and the answers given...

[Deleted]

Citizen letter 23 Mar 2014.docx (13.12 KB)
I haven't kept this thread up-to-date. Gordon Taylor banned the recording of the last Planning Committee meeting; then Paul James said that it would be all right to record council meetings; then Chris Witts wrote a ridiculous letter to the Citizen to object to the recording. I scanned the stupid letter, but it is over 1MB, so I can't upload it. Here is my reply, though.

[timmessanger]

Maybe they could think about it a bit more and stream the meetings live across the internet with youtube?

[Deleted]

They wouldn't need YouTube. All they need do is use their own website and have a page devoted to recordings of their meetings. They could have a link to click on to watch the current or last meeting. I think that they're scared that someone will take footage and overdub it with something amusing, but that's the price that we pay for political freedom. Some the councillors really need to man up a bit.

[Joe K]

A couple of weeks back, I asked the city council on Twitter just how far they had got with discussions implied by Witts concerning whether they should do the filming themselves, to avoid such a supposed threat of mischievous editing. They said there had been no discussions,confirming my suspicion that without the public keeping the pressure up with further filming, the council would sit on its hands. Which I understand, given that additonal spending is anathema to the Tory-led council, when every knocked over bollard is simply 'made safe' by filling in the hole rather than replacing it.

They should just accept that if they won't splash the cash, 'concerns' about how the public will do the job are irrelevant. I only wish I could do something amusing with footage. It might encourage more interest in councillors' business, and short of doing something criminally abusive, should be a win/win.

I'm slightly disappointed that UKIP, given their presence at council meetings, up to the point of public questions, anyway, haven't made filming of meetings a whossis, cause celebre. That, along with an initiative to invite the public to bring local issues/grievances to their door, could set the party up for the general election next year.

And I replied to a council tweet yesterday about the next planning meeting on May 6th by asking in advance if I could film it. No response yet...