Council Leaders Voice Support For Webcasting Continuation & Expansion

The Leader of Wrexham Council and the Council’s Chief Executive have both voiced their support for the continuation of webcasting of Council meetings.

This year saw the introduction of a webcast system where anyone can watch live video streams of Executive Board, Full Council and Planning meetings after a £40,000 one off grant by the Welsh Government.

Due to the ending of the funding a decision will be made if Wrexham Council will pick up the bill to continue the broadcasts or if the system will be scrapped.

Wrexham.com were told it is possible that discussions could be under ‘Part 2’ of the next Full Council meeting. This section is secret away from media and public, usually justified as debate could discuss finances and the like where a competitive advantage could be lost if the details were public.

Today Council Leader Mark Pritchard said such decisions were ‘not always about the money’ and stressed his support for the system saying: “I will be in full support of retaining it for all the obvious reasons such as openness and democracy for Wrexham Council. It is not always about money, democracy is as important”.

Mr Pritchard went on to say: “Webcasting has been one of the most positive things in terms of transparency to come out of Wrexham Council and I thank the Welsh Government for giving us £40,000 to do it but they have said there is no more money for it.

“Lots of residents don’t come in to the Council or get to see debates and most of their contact with the Council or members is via a planning issue or the like. Now with webcasting they can sit at home and watch it.

Mr Pritchard not only voiced support for the current system, but also added: “I would like it to cover all parts of the Council including Scrutiny Meetings as then people can have a true picture and vision of what’s going on in the Council.”

Wrexham Council Chief Executive, Dr Helen Paterson, who has mentioned digital opportunities on her latest blog (here) also voiced her support mentioning the transparency benefits, but also saying: “Webcasting is also important for accessibility as not everyone has the time or ability to come in to the Council chamber.”

The added engagement with recent consultations was also referred to, with the overall aim of increasing engagement as Wrexham Council ‘genuinely want peoples views’.

Making clear that these are opinions and are not prejudging any decisions, Mr Pritchard said: “We will have to find the money for it if it is supported at Full Council. When it was introduced it had full support from all elected members, so I would be surprised if they moved away from that position.”

You can view an archive of the meetings broadcast so far here.