Agenda item

Under Rule 11(6) of the Council Constitution it was agreed by the Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer in consultation with the Chair of Council that the following motion be referred to the Policy and Resources Committee.  The proposer and seconder of the motion will be invited to the meeting to present the motion under new Rule 11(11).

Proposer: Cllr Alex Hayward, seconded by Councillor Ciaran Reed

In order to maximise transparency and electoral accountability this Council believes that the residents of Three Rivers should all be able to access the meetings of this Council via live streaming and that this Council looks to implement this facility as soon as possible.

A report has been provided as background information to the motion.

LIVESTREAMING OF COUNCIL/COMMITTEE/SUB-COMMITTEE MEETINGS

A motion was received for full Council on 13 July 2021 as detailed below:

Cllr Alex Hayward, seconded by Councillor Ciaran Reed moved the following motion:

In order to maximise transparency and electoral accountability this Council believes that the residents of Three Rivers should all be able to access the meetings of this Council via live streaming and that this Council looks to implement this facility as soon as possible.

Under Rule 11(6) the motion had been referred to this meeting for discussion and debate.

A report was provided to aid the debate/discussion on the motion.

A Member asked how the costings had been done and if Officers could look to have fixed cameras only and not cameras which track participants when speaking. 

In response to a question on livestreaming to You Tube, the Shared Director of Finance advised that the Council had initially used You Tube to livestream our virtual meetings but they had stopped the livestreaming due to unsuitable content. This was not a solution going forward but we can look to have just fixed cameras and review the costs.

Councillor Alex Hayward, seconded by Councillor Chris Lloyd, moved the recommendations as set out in the report with the amendment on the cameras to just be fixed. 

Members were advised that we would need to have some sort of license to livestream the meetings rather than just having an i-phone to record the meeting and livestream to You Tube. 

Another Council had introduced livestreaming and it was expensive and there would be a license fee required and you were limited to just the room where the equipment was installed.  Officers were asked to ensure that all running costs were included.

On being put to the Committee the motion was declared CARRIED by the Chair the voting being unanimous.

On being put to the Committee the proposals set out in the Officer report were declared CARRIED by the Chair the voting being unanimous.

RECOMMEND:

The motion be recommended to Council as required under Rule 11(6) as follows:

In order to maximise transparency and electoral accountability this Council believes that the residents of Three Rivers should all be able to access the meetings of this Council via live streaming and that this Council looks to implement this facility as soon as possible.

RESOLVED:

That officers obtain updated detailed quotes on the livestreaming of meetings but with the need to include any maintenance and support for the system for the Committee to review in September using the following list of requirements:

•           To be able to live stream a meeting on a link accessible from the Council’s website which could be published with the agenda.

•           To be able to retain a recording of the live stream to be accessible from the Council’s website via the link for a year after the meeting.

•           For the cameras within the room to be fixed and to not track the participants in the meeting when they are speaking.

•           The live stream should be simple to operate by officers so that it is simple to end a live stream when the meeting concludes or moves into Part 2 session and with a clear ability for a simple return to broadcasting of Part I.

•           For the system to comply with the Council’s ICT security policies.

•           For there to be minimal staff resource required in operating the system.

•           That all maintenance costs and ongoing revenue costs be provided.