Issue - meetings

Motion

Meeting: 20/04/2022 - Council (Item 110)

110 Motions on Notice (To Follow) PDF 175 KB

The Motions on Notice will be published in a supplementary pack for this meeting.

A period of up to one hour is allocated to consider the motions on notice. This may only be extended with the agreement of the Council.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chairman advised that four Motions on Notice had been received for consideration at the meeting. An hour had been allocated to the consideration of the Motions.

In advance of the meeting, group leaders had agreed that the Motion submitted by Councillor G. Denaro, on the subject of remote meetings, should be agreed without debate. That Motion would not therefore be discussed during the meeting.

Prior to the debate in respect of the Motions, a request was received for the Motion in respect of the 144 bus route to be the first to be debated, to ensure that it could be considered within the time available for the consideration of Motions. The Chairman advised that, out of respect for the Councillors who had submitted Motions on Notice, they would be considered in the order in which they had been received. However, should it be necessary, the time dedicated to the discussion of Motions could potentially be extended.

Televising Council Meetings

Council considered the following Motion on Notice that was submitted by Councillor P. McDonald:

"A great number of local authorities televise their council meetings allowing residents to watch local democracy from the comfort of their homes. This opens the council to full scrutinisation of its actions in the council chamber and shows local democracy at work. Therefore, we call upon officers to present options as to how meetings of full Council can be televised by the next Council meeting."

The Motion was proposed by Councillor McDonald and seconded by Councillor H. Rone-Clarke.

In proposing the Motion, Councillor McDonald commented that since the Covid-19 pandemic, Councils had undertaken a lot of remote working and had made use of far more technology than in previous years. Many local authorities were live streaming their Council and Committee meetings and this enabled their residents to access meetings in a range of ways as well as to engage with the local democratic process, which helped to hold Members to account. For many people, it was more convenient to watch a Committee meeting at home on their personal devices, rather than to attend a meeting in person at Parkside. Live streaming also enabled people who had work, caring and other commitments to learn about the decisions that the Council was making. By televising Council meetings, Bromsgrove District Council would be taking action suitable for local democracy in the twenty-first century.

In seconding the Motion, Councillor Rone-Clarke advised that he had raised the possibility of live streaming Council and Committee meetings in 2019. There were many Councils that already live streamed their meetings and the Council had managed to live stream remote meetings when these were held in the 2020-2021 municipal year. By live streaming Council meetings, Bromsgrove District Council would be in a better position to enable certain groups within the local community to engage in the democratic process, including people with physical disabilities and residents who worked shifts.

In response to the Motion, the Portfolio Holder for Finance and Enabling explained that Bromsgrove District ... view the full minutes text for item 110