West Berkshire Council considering £80,000 cost to webcast meetings

WEST Berkshire Council is considering broadcasting some future meetings online, however it would have to fork out £80,000 to do so.

A working group was set up by the council to examine the costs of such a move, which the the local authority hopes will make its decision-making more transparent to the public.

However the council, which earlier this year was forced to making £17.5m-worth of budget cuts, would need to pay £35,000 for new equipment, such as microphones and software, and another £45,000 on maintenance work.

Presenting the figures, the council’s executive member for corporate services and external affairs, James Fredrickson (Con, Victoria), explained that the move was mooted in response to the unprecedented demand to access the council’s housing Development Plan Document that was agreed last year.

Alan Macro (Lib Dem, Theale) said: “The public in general get very cynical so the more open we can be the better.”