Issue - meetings

Report of the Head of Corporate Legal Services

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Corporate Legal Services on work on a number of issues which involved potential amendments to the Constitution.

RESOLVED: That

(1)          the Council be recommended to approve the proposed amendments to the Constitution arising from the Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014/2095, thereby amending the Rules of Procedure in Chapter 4 to incorporate the following:-

(i)         While a meeting of the Council, Cabinet, a Committee or Sub- Committee is open to the public, any person attending is permitted to report on the meeting by filming, photographing or making an audio recording of proceedings at the meeting. They may also use any other means for enabling persons not present to see or hear proceedings at such a meeting as it takes place or later and may use any communication method, including the internet, to publish, post or otherwise share the results of the person’s reporting activities.

(ii)        Should a person cause a disturbance at a meeting whilst reporting on the proceedings, for example by:

•      moving to areas outside the areas designated for the public without the consent of the Chair,

•      making excessive noise in recording or setting up or re-siting equipment during the debate/discussion,

•      using intrusive lighting and/or flash photography, or

•      asking for people to repeat statements for the purposes of recording,

then the provisions of Rules  103 to 106 (Chapter 4) (Members’ conduct and disturbance by the public) shall apply.

(iii)       Nothing in this Rule shall allow any person to report on any part of a meeting, without the consent of the meeting, whilst the public is excluded to allow it to debate confidential or exempt matters; and

(2)          that a task group consisting of Councillors Papworth, Roberts and Shaw be appointed to review in detail the remaining proposed changes to the Constitution set out in paragraph 1.8 of the report, with a view to reporting back to the Committee at its meeting on 10 December 2014.