Newbury News Ltd. Print-Digital-Social
Newbury News Ltd. Print-Digital-Social
Mon, 26 Sept 2016
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.”
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Article comments
NewburyLad
26/09/2016 - 12:12
If they were spending that kind of money ALL meetings should be broadcast - after all that money comes West Berkshire residents (not the dodgers of course) and so we are entitled to know exactly how our money is being spent and how good or bad our elected councillors perform.
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Andrewmo
26/09/2016 - 12:12
sounds like they are being ripped off again
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rooter37
26/09/2016 - 13:01
Not at all, decent video conferencing kit will cost that and some, i would say that 40k for the kit alone is either for poor quality kit, or they have just wet their finger, stuck it in the air and had a guess. Plenty of businesses in Newbury that could supply, install and manage this kit though.
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