Photography and Filming in Council Meetings, The Local Audit and Accountability Bill Options

[Simon Kirby]

The Local Audit and Accountability Bill is currently going through the final ping-pong stage which looks likely to create a right to film council meetings. At present if you want to film or take a photo at a council meeting there is a significant risk that an uppity clerk could call the police and have you arrested. You'd not be doing anything illegal and the police don't actually have any power of arrest if all you're doing is quietly filming or snapping the proceedings, but it's happened that people have been carted off to the cells in handcuffs for just that, only to be released without charge. Utterly appalling in what is supposed to be a free society.

You already have a right under the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 to attend meetings of the full parish council and its committees, though that right doesn't extend to sub-committees, but it's helpful here to understand what a committee and sub-committee is - a committee is a meeting which has its power to make decisions delegated directly by the council, and a sub-committee is a meeting which has its power to make decisions delegated by a committee.

So for our own town council its committees are the Policy & Resources Committee; Community Services Committee, Civic Pride, Arts & Leisure Committee, and the Planning & Highways Committee, but also the confisingly-named Urgency Sub-Committee which is technically a committee. You don't currently have a right to attend a Grants Sub-Committee or a Staff Sub-Committee.

So you shouldn't actually need a right to take a photo or video of a councillor or officer in a council meeting because it's not disruptive and the only power the council has is to evict you from the meeting if you're being disruptive, but in practice councillors and officers can be very unhappy indeed about their business being exposed to public scrutiny and criticism - but that's the cornerstone of a free society and it's very important to assert that right.

I think you might be surprised at some of the harridan harpies and knuckle-dragging halfwits that people local government. Voting for someone on the strength of their party affiliation alone does not create good local government and exposing the arrogance, vanity, self-serving, and good old-fashioned ignorance, fear and prejudice that exists in local councils should do wonders for accountability.

[motormad]

When and where?

[Jay Sands]

When and where?

The right to film council meetings has just been passed into law: "Just yesterday, the Local Audit and Accountability Act was passed into law. It gives citizens the right to blog, tweet and make recordings at local council meetings. The Government only made this move after a report by Andrew Allison (Tax Payers Alliance) exposed his local authority, East Riding of Yorkshire Council, as the most secretive in his region. Until now, residents were not allowed to record, Tweet or otherwise comment on the meeting via the internet. Not any more: from now on, all citizen journalists and bloggers have the law on their side. "

[Simon Kirby]

The right to film council meetings has just been passed into law: "Just yesterday, the Local Audit and Accountability Act was passed into law. It gives citizens the right to blog, tweet and make recordings at local council meetings. The Government only made this move after a report by Andrew Allison (Tax Payers Alliance) exposed his local authority, East Riding of Yorkshire Council, as the most secretive in his region. Until now, residents were not allowed to record, Tweet or otherwise comment on the meeting via the internet. Not any more: from now on, all citizen journalists and bloggers have the law on their side. "

I see the act received royal assent yesterday, but it's my understanding of Section 40 that it does no more than enables secondary legislation, so a separate statutory instrument is still required to create the right to film.

But again, if the council you filmed chooses to victimize you for posting your footage because of some criticism or other that you make of the council then you'd be pretty daft to exercise your rights if the council had some control over something you cared about.

[Jay Sands]

I see the act received royal assent yesterday, but it's my understanding of Section 40 that it does no more than enables secondary legislation, so a separate statutory instrument is still required to create the right to film.

But again, if the council you filmed chooses to victimize you for posting your footage because of some criticism or other that you make of the council then you'd be pretty daft to exercise your rights if the council had some control over something you cared about.

In my opinion all council meetings should be filmed and recorded as a matter of course and there should be no secret meetings of any kind, everything should be transparent.

I also don't think members of one council should also be on another, e.g. Newbury TC and West Berks Council, it seems to me there could be a conflict of interests there that might prejudice any vote/opinion. There should also be a limit on the number of times a councillor can stand for re-election.

[blackdog]

I also don't think members of one council should also be on another, e.g. Newbury TC and West Berks Council, it seems to me there could be a conflict of interests there that might prejudice any vote/opinion. There should also be a limit on the number of times a councillor can stand for re-election.

I'm not so concerned about membership of both parish and district councils - it seems logical enough to represent constituents at both levels. What worries me more is membership of two or more councils at the same level. For instance the Leader of NTC is also a member of Greenham Parish Council. There are obvious conflicts of interest - notably in planning.

[On the edge]

I'm not so concerned about membership of both parish and district councils - it seems logical enough to represent constituents and both levels. What worries me more is membership of two or more councils at the same level. For instance the Leader of NTC is also a member of Greenham Parish Council. There are obvious conflicts of interest - notably in planning.

Spot on!