I am pleased Eric Pickles has issued guidance re film at council meetings.
When I am permitted to return to Oakham Town Council meetings I will look forward to recording events, I am accused by those councillors on medication or offered it by their GP of lying and twisting what they have said. I can only assume the medication is harming their memory cells.
People should start to ask where is democracy going in this Country. Rather than the openness and transparency Councils suggest they deliver, their actions are so often very different. Below is a recent article on BBC News. This has been going on all over the Country. In another Council a woman was arrested and taken for questioning after the Police called by the Council because she wanted to record the meeting on her phone, yet she was doing nothing illegal.
By contrast, Leicestershire Council not only record their meetings themselves they publish it on their website. Sadly to date, Rutland Council have refused this option, despite our repeated requests for such, in fact they do not even record the debate and cannot produce verbatim Minutes, which leads to an inability to properly check for any omissions and mistakes.
Fortunately, Eric Pickles has now declared that any Council meeting may be filmed to put an end to this nonsense.
BBC News: Eric Pickles says Keighley Town Council 'lost plot' over filming
Elizabeth Mitchell said she was escorted out of the building along with 10 others
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has said his home town's council "lost the plot" when it ejected members of the public who tried to film a meeting.
Campaigners tried to film Keighley Town Council, in West Yorkshire, so the authority could be held to account.
Police escorted 11 people from the public gallery on Thursday evening.
Afterwards Mr Pickles posted on Twitter: "#keighleytowncouncil seems to have lost the plot. A good council is one open to public scrutiny."
He later added: "For the town council in my old home town to make such a fool of itself is embarrassing."
'Herded down steps'
Elizabeth Mitchell, 65, was one of those ejected at about 19:00 BST.
She said people had been asked not to film before the meeting but said the campaigners had brought with them guidance issued by Mr Pickles last month which states "councils should thus allow the filming of councillors and officers at meetings that are open to the public".
"The mayor said if we didn't stop they would call the police, which she did. About nine or 10 officers came into the public gallery," Mrs Mitchell said.
"We had to be herded down the steps."
Mrs Mitchell said they would try to film the next full council meeting on 5 September.
The mayor, Sally Walker, could not be contacted for comment.
Last month Richard Taylor, 33, was told the police would be called unless he stopped filming a Huntingdonshire District Council meeting, but was eventually allowed to continue after council members intervened.
