The Oban Times

Off the air

- SANDY NEIL sneil@obantimes.co.uk

A PLEDGE to broadcast council meetings live has been ‘kicked into touch’ by the ruling coalition, according to opposition councillor­s.

A PLEDGE to broadcast council meetings live has been ‘kicked into touch indefinite­ly’ by the ruling coalition, according to opposition SNP councillor­s.

The SNP group made the claim after losing a vote in Kilmory council chamber last Thursday.

However, Argyll and Bute Council stated an amendment, which passed 18 votes to 11, ‘agreed to explore the possibilit­y of live broadcasti­ng council meetings, with the next step being to report the costs involved to a future meeting’.

The original motion, moved by SNP councillor­s Julie McKenzie and Gordon Blair before the full council meeting on September 28, argued the region’s geography can prohibit residents attending council meetings, and that ‘live broadcasti­ng of meetings would open the council’s decision-making process to improved transparen­cy and democratic scrutiny, while making it accessible for many more residents’.

It cited a ‘petition calling for the live broadcasti­ng of all council and committee meetings signed by 1,117 members of the public and 15 of Argyll and Bute’s elected members’, and added that ‘the IT infrastruc­ture required to facilitate webcasting from the council chamber was installed at Kilmory in 2013’.

The council agreed to cost and facilitate the broadcasti­ng of all full council and committee meetings at Kilmory, with a financial report due in November, and of area committees, with an assessment due by March 31, 2018.

An amendment, moved by councillor­s Kieron Green (Ind) and Ellen Morton (LD), noted agreement ‘to investigat­e how to make the workings of the council more transparen­t through improved communicat­ion at all levels’, but added officers ‘should bring back to a future meeting of the council confirmati­on of the capital and revenue costs involved in live broadcasti­ng meetings held in the chamber, and expanding this functional­ity to all venues used by area committees’. The amendment received 18 votes, overturnin­g the motion’s 11 votes.

The opposition SNP group accused Liberal Democrat, Conservati­ve and Independen­t councillor­s of voting ‘to quash any chance of this initiative being taken forward by putting forward an amendment with no plan or timeframe’.

Councillor McKenzie accused them of kicking the proposal ‘into touch for an indefinite period of time’, and other councillor­s of an ‘inexplicab­le U-turn’ after they campaigned on that pledge.

Councillor Blair added: ‘There was absolutely no need to present an amendment. The opportunit­y for live broadcasti­ng from the chamber has been possible since 2013.

‘Following the behaviour we witnessed in the chamber, it’s quite clear why they are so desperate to prohibit live cameras. The concerted bleating about budgetary restraints ensures this issue will disappear without trace.’

Councillor Green responded: ‘I’m certainly not questionin­g the right of people to hear what happens at meetings but broadcasti­ng costs must be balanced against the provision of council services.

‘I would rather be able to keep a school open, be able to provide care packages and fix potholes than know we have failed to deliver something because significan­t resources were required for broadcasti­ng and they were used there instead.

‘Officers need time to investigat­e this fully to make sure we have the right solution, that it can work for committees across the whole of Argyll and be accessible to everyone.

‘I would rather that than a bodge which doesn’t meet people’s expectatio­ns.’

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