Full Council - 22nd September 2011

Ken Moss · 19-09-2011, 22:03

The next meeting of the full council is this Thursday at Accrington Town Hall at 7.00pm. As always, it is open to the public to come and watch from the gallery and a full list of agenda items can be found here:

Council

garinda · 23-09-2011, 20:11

This reminds me of when Googie Withers left the prison for the last time, in Within These Walls.

Tealeaf · 24-09-2011, 09:04

So how long has filming been allowed at council meetings?

garinda · 24-09-2011, 09:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tealeaf

So how long has filming been allowed at council meetings?

Don't know, but it was the Observer who posted it on YouTube.

Tealeaf · 24-09-2011, 09:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by garinda

Don't know, but it was the Observer who posted it on YouTube.

Presumably the same reporter who who doing the twitter updates.

I wonder if he'll be at the next meeting?

gynn · 24-09-2011, 12:29

Hyndburn - An Excellent Council...........

shillelagh · 24-09-2011, 12:35

as far as im concerned thats rude ... if someone has been invited to speak at the meeting then they should have stayed ... even if they didnt agree with it .. its bad manners ... oh and if it had been the other way round ... and the labour councillors had walked out i would have said the same ...

Ken Moss · 24-09-2011, 12:41

The walkout was in response to a presentation by Brian Simpson MEP who had come to give a presentation on how European decisions affect things in Hyndburn. Given my comparative ignorance of how some things are connected I found it quite interesting and it is useful to get a glimpse of the bigger picture in order to help me be a better councillor. I doubt whether the same tactics would have been employed if a certain Mr Hargreaves had still been local MP and invited along to speak.

I'm disappointed with the Conservative group, shepherded once again into leaving the chamber by Cllr Britcliffe, as several questions were raised over the course of the evening that Mr Simpson was well placed to answer.

We should be encouraging links between district, county and parliamentary levels in order to enable a better flow of information but this seems to be at odds with what the local Conservatives want. Personally speaking, whatever colour flag our local government representatives are flying we should try as far as we can to hear each other out. I note with interest that the only person reported to have turned down an invite to speak at Full Council is Conservative County Council Leader Geoff Driver.

Greater transparency, anyone?

Ken Moss · 24-09-2011, 12:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tealeaf

Presumably the same reporter who who doing the twitter updates.

I wonder if he'll be at the next meeting?

As far as I'm concerned they can film the whole thing, much as they do at several other local councils. I'm not sure how interested the local populace would be but at least it would be a true and uncontestable record of events in the council chamber. Current costings for webcasting stand at around £40,000 per year which is a sticking point.

The issue of podcasting as a cheaper alternative has been raised within the Labour group only this week.

Ken Moss · 24-09-2011, 12:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by garinda

This reminds me of when Googie Withers left the prison for the last time, in Within These Walls.

It's not often you get to see the back of your own head.....cheers, G!

Neil · 24-09-2011, 16:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ken Moss

Current costings for webcasting stand at around £40,000 per year which is a sticking point.

The issue of podcasting as a cheaper alternative has been raised within the Labour group only this week.

I think you would get more viewers if it was not live but available to view on the Council website. Would that be cheaper?

I keep saying I will come to one and would like to but we had a mad week with school hunting and Thursday was the first evening we could sit and do nothing.

As it happened I spent the evening killing zombies on a dead island, similar to a council meeting some would say.

Is podcasting just voice? I think thats a bad idea personally. I like to put faces to names.

For the £40k would it be live only or able to view whenever.

It would be nice if I could find minutes online of past meetings.
Are they all available and I am having trouble finding them?

g jones · 24-09-2011, 22:34

A video camera with wide angle lens and mike would surely do? One which records in web format and placed on the Councils website?

My cheapish Sony camera does these.

garinda · 24-09-2011, 23:10

We could have used some of this.

Row flares over £591,000 spent on outdated website | Accrington Observer - menmedia.co.uk

The over half a million quid grant, raised by peoples' taxes, for Hyndburn to have a 'community website'.

Costly website a ?desperate failure? | Accrington Observer - menmedia.co.uk

With the amount of wonga to play with, nevermind full council meetings, we could have had every councillor cammed up 24/7.

If the money hadn't been wasted, we could have had so many cameras at H.B.C. that it would have made Big Brother look unobtrusive.

garinda · 24-09-2011, 23:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by g jones

A video camera with wide angle lens and mike would surely do? One which records in web format and placed on the Councils website?

My cheapish Sony camera does these.

But Graham, if you turn up there, we'll only get to see the film you took of them leaving in protest again.

Neil · 25-09-2011, 00:46

If its done it needs to be done properly. We don't want it to look like a small child filmed it with a web cam. That wont give the professional image we expect from our Council.