Jacob Williams https://jacobwilliams.com

The filming of council meetings looks set to be introduced to Pembrokeshire County Council following the return of a motion laid down eighteen months ago. The principle departs quite sharply away from some of the council’s past ‘signs’ – more that in just a moment.

The originating proposal, which was submitted by Cllr. David Howlett way back in October 2011, made its way to the council’s Corporate Governance Committee the week before last. Cllr. Howlett and I are both on the committee, and when he presented his case, it was apparent to a few of us (himself included) that the baton had been carried off into a different arena. The matter had appeared before Corporate Governance before, and the result of enquiries by officers is the recommendation for the council to approve a one year trial of in-house filming of meetings and online webcasting. This will be presented to all councillors for the final say-so at the May full council meeting, on the 9th.

Whilst I believe that the recording of meetings and uploading them to the council website for later viewing is a great idea, and will surely encourage Pembrokeshire constituents and the wider public to see for themselves what goes on in their council meetings; it won’t come cheap. It is also not altogether clear whether Cllr. Howlett’s simple request – to allow members of the public to film meetings themselves, which will cost not a penny – has been met with opposition from those upstairs, or whether it just got overlooked in this post-ministerial board crusade for openness and transparency.

In neighbouring Carmarthenshire, resident blogger Jacqui Thompson was arrested for a breach of the peace after refusing to put away her camera at a meeting of Carmarthenshire County Council. The police were called by the council chairman and she was carted off to the cells, after which no charge was made, on the proviso that she signed an undertaking not to film meetings in future. Accordingly, there was – and still remains – no specific rule of the council or law of the land, barring filming. The saga received national media attention, and Cllr. Howlett said it was this incident that spurred him to take action, so that the right for the public to film meetings from the gallery was unequivocal – at least in Pembrokeshire, and such a situation could be avoided. It doesn’t seem like the council agrees, and it is perhaps no coincidence that his original proposal has been cast aside in favour of an in-house system.

A few months back I spotted laminated copies of the above posters stuck on the wall of the public gallery. I believe they are still in place. I’m not aware of any explicit rule under which this prohibition is empowered, but I do hope that, following the May county council meeting, they can be ripped up and Cllr. Howlett’s motion:

“That members of the public be allowed to film public Council meetings as long as they do not impede or obstruct proceedings,”

will be embraced by the council.

Even if members of the public are still going to be prohibited from filming proceedings for themselves, it looks very likely that the trial of in-house filming will get the go ahead, and it’ll be interesting to see if it has any noticeable effects on front or back-bench behaviour!

I’ll just have to make sure I remember to powder my nose ahead of lights, camera: action. Though, looking around the chamber, this new advent is almost bound to expose a number of other traits that are far beyond cosmetic concealment. I think it was Judge Judith Sheindlin who said “beauty fades, dumb is forever!”