Council wants to broadcast meetings (From The Oxford Times)
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Council wants to broadcast meetings
12:10pm Thursday 9th February 2012 in Abingdon
RESIDENTS of Abingdon could soon be catching up with the drama of the town council in bed, in the car or even out on a jog by the river.
The Liberal Democrat opposition group wants the council to record meetings in future and make them available online for the public to download and listen to at their leisure.
The group called for the authority to explore the technology as part of the £1.2m revamp of the Guildhall where council meetings are held.
The motion was put forward by Samantha Bowring, Lib Dem member for Ock Meadow, in a meeting of the full council last month attended by three members of the public.
She said the move would encourage public participation and increase the accountability of the council.
Ms Bowring said: “It is an opportunity to better engage with the public.”
But Sandy Lovatt, leader of the Conservative council, said it would not be worth the cost.
He said: “I don’t think the quality of debate merits it.
“The cost of it and the technical skills to run it are outside the scope of the town.”
The council voted to refer the matter to the finance and general purposes committee to look into the cost, which could be anywhere between £2,000 and £20,000.
Comments(11)
King Joke
says...
3:41pm Thu 9 Feb 12
someguyfromhereandthere
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4:25pm Thu 9 Feb 12
Quentin Walker
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6:25pm Thu 9 Feb 12
Shaun the Faun
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7:13pm Thu 9 Feb 12
someguyfromhereandth"That's all you need..."
ere wrote:
You can pick up a decent studio quality mic for under £100 and download a copy of Audacity for free from the Internet. Thats all you need (that is if you already have a computer). The muppet who wants to charge £2000 upwards is trying to rip them off.
Well you'd record some echoey noise that way, but nothing that would be intelligible on a podcast. To make it intelligible you'll need at least several mics and a means of controlling their output.
Starting-point of £2K seems in the right sort of area to me - and, yes, I DO know what I'm talking about. ;-)
davidofabingdon
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7:21pm Thu 9 Feb 12
Iain L
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11:32pm Thu 9 Feb 12
I can't imagine anyone wanting to playback the 2.5 hours of thrilling debate that we go through at an average town council meeting.
For what it's worth I think the idea of a short podcast updating interested people in what the council is doing is a sound one - but I don't see what recording council meetings would add to that.
I also reflect that we've had 16 years of liberal administration and I can't help wondering why, if they think it is such a good idea to record council meetings, why they didn't do it.
davidofabingdon
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6:55am Fri 10 Feb 12
Iain L wrote:I am a little disturbed at hearing two councillors - sandy lovatt in the main article and Iain here - being so cynical about the quality of council debate.
I dont think the issue here is money. As was discussed in front of the huge throng of public clamouring to attend the town council meeting, it was clearly explained that a sound system and audio loop are already in the plans for the guildhall restoration. So the technology is not the issue.
I can't imagine anyone wanting to playback the 2.5 hours of thrilling debate that we go through at an average town council meeting.
For what it's worth I think the idea of a short podcast updating interested people in what the council is doing is a sound one - but I don't see what recording council meetings would add to that.
I also reflect that we've had 16 years of liberal administration and I can't help wondering why, if they think it is such a good idea to record council meetings, why they didn't do it.
As for the16 years of lib dem administration, I thought IainL would be delighted that after so long a party can still come up with new ideas. I would be more disturbed if there was no fresh ideas coming up from the lib Dems.
For the record, I would probably not listen to a whole podcast, but I would scroll through to items that interest me, as I am almost always at work when council meetings are on.
And perhaps the thought of public scrutiny and record would improve the quality of debate Iain and sandy are so concerned about. That in itself might be worth the money.
Iain L
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9:21am Fri 10 Feb 12
My own oratory style, whilst I hope not the worst, is probably closer to Iain Duncan Smith on a bad day, than to Churchill or Thatcher, and without seeking to be rude about my fellow councillors I don't think any of them would pretend to be Churchills, Lloyd Georges or Bevans.
The reality of town councils are that the bulk of the real stuff we do is done within the committees, and are generally remarkably consensual as when it comes down to it we all want to make tge town a better place.
If people want to understand what the town council really does, then attending or reading the minutes of these meetings will provide a much richer picture of what goes on than the full town council meetings.
You'll be pleased to know some of the committee meetings take place in the afternoons too David so you may be able to get to one or two, although I must say they are generally even less well attended by the public than full council.
greenius
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9:29am Fri 10 Feb 12
The item on the Abingdon blog at http://www.abingdonb
log.co.uk/?p=5170 which appeared the day was very useful.
Abingdon Neil
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3:35pm Fri 10 Feb 12
Most people probably aren't that interested in what goes on at most council meetings most of the time, but they often will be if there is a particular issue they care about.
By being able to listen to the actual debate they would be able to hear exactly what each councillor says on that issue. Councillors will therefore be that little bit more accountable.
Clearly this has to be balanced with the cost. If the Guildhall is going to be fitted out with the microphones etc. anyway as part of its refurbishment, then the marginal time and effort involved in recording and uploading meetings will be low, and I would support it.
If several thousands of pounds need to be spent on equipment specifically for this purpose I would oppose it.
But, as David says, there is apparently £50K available for the Jubilee weekend, with all the staff costs on top, so lack of money doesn't seem to be a huge problem.
Dilligaf2010 says...
12:41pm Thu 9 Feb 12
If the decision is taken to go ahead with this option, all those in favour should be taken outside and shot, what a ridiculous waste of money.