Lights, camera, action! – New public recording rights for council meetings

THE filming and recording of proceedings could soon become a frequent feature of Thame Town Council meetings, following new government regulations around transparency and accountability that have recently come into force.

Shot from the first video ever taken of a Thame Town Council meeting on Tuesday (02/09/14)

In response to the Local Government Audit and Accountability Act 2014, Thame’s town council is coming to grips with this new aspect of local democracy and will soon be publishing arrangements and agreed principles for filming and recording meetings, including on mobile phones, on its website. These will include the council denying filming and recording rights if it deems the subject of any meeting ‘to be of a sensitive nature’ though it is not clear yet who will, or how it will be decided what is ‘sensitive’ and why.

The use of digital and social media such as Twitter, blogging or audio recording the council has said, ‘will only be allowed as long as it is carried out in a non-disruptive manner and does not interrupt the course of the meeting,’ and the Chair of any committee will have the authority to stop a meeting ‘and take appropriate action’ if any person contravenes these principles.

At a meeting last night of the full town council, councillors discussed concerns that recordings might be edited in such a way that the proceedings could be ‘misrepresented’ or ‘infringe on the values of the Council’. Cllr David Dodds said that there should be a requirement to register in advance an intention to film or record, and that it needed to be decided from where filming can take place to avoid ‘cameras being shoved in councillors’ faces’.

Tweeting from public meetings and courts has already been allowed for several months, following an announcement from the office of Eric Pickes, the Communities Minister.