Council meetings on screen near you
CITIZEN journalism has made it into the council chamber. New rules have been brought
in to make councils more trans- parent and accountable to their local communities – which in- cludes allowing meetings to be filmed, tweeted and blogged. Communities secretary Eric Pickles has introduced the new national rules – along with a briefing booklet – which allows members of the public to now film meetings of local authori- ties and their committees. Discreet filming which does
not disrupt proceedings is to be encouraged, according to Mr Pickles, who said: “We recom- mend that those wanting to film liaise with council staff be- fore the start of the meeting and, as a courtesy, attendees should be informed at the start of the meeting that it is being filmed.” A Maidstone Council spokesman said: “Maidstone Council webcasts all meetings so our debates and meetings are available for all to view. The ability to tweet, blog and film
meetings is simply an exten- sion of what we do anyway and is to be welcomed.” Although Mr Pickles said councils could reasonably ask for filming to be undertaken in such a way that is not disrup- tive or distracting to members and officers, there was nothing to prohibit filming of meetings. He added: “Council meetings
are public meetings. Elected representatives and council of- ficers acting in the public sphere should expect to be held to account for their comments and votes in such meetings. “The rules require councils to provide reasonable facilities for any member of the public to re- port on meetings. Councils should thus allow the filming of councillors and officers at meetings that are open to the public.” The new rules also facilitate
social media reporting of meet- ings – which means bloggers, tweeters, Facebook and YouTube users, and individuals with their own website, should be allowed to report meetings.
Charity target gets a boost
AMAIDSTONE hotel is well on its way to hitting its £2,000 fundraising target for Breast Cancer Care. Staff at The Mercure
Maidstone Great Danes Hotel have already raised £1,100 through a variety of activities. The most re- cent sawgeneralmanager Dominic Di Cara securing 63rd place with the Mer- cure team in the Brighton Falmer Triathlon. The Mercurewas amain sponsor of theeventand while Dominic took on the cycle legof the chal- lenge, his colleagues Duncan Beverage (company secretary) and Richard Coupland (commercialdevelopment manager) tookontheswim and run elements. The trio are pictured. Other fundraising activities have included a strawberry afternoon tea organised by Exquisite Spa at the hotel, which sawa number of guests attending such asmembers of the public, theMayor of Maidstone and breast cancer specialists from Maidstone Hospital.
More buses on school run
BUS companyArriva has added an extra two buses to its service through Loose, following a high-profile campaign. Parents were furious that the
early morning and late after- noon buses were often so crowded that their children could not get to and from school. Now, KCC has agreed to fund
the additional buses for two months, after which Arriva will take over responsibility. Following pressure from par-
ents and KCC Cllr Brian Clark, inspectors from both KCC and Arriva assessed the extent of the problem after the school term resumed in September and have addedanadditionalNo5bus
from Linton Corner at 7.50am each morning, with another No 5 at 3.55pm for the return jour- ney from King Street. This service is being funded
by KCC for the first twomonths after which Arriva will swap the current single decker for a double decker service. Cllr Clark welcomed the
move. “With so many parents affected I will continue to as- sess the situation, although I am glad that Arriva and KCC have responded quickly and reached agreement. “The new No 5 buses should
make a real difference along the route and reduce burden on the other services along the corri- dor,” he said.
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