Hampshire County Council Web Streaming

Yet again the Liberal Democrats have been very economical with the truth.

This time it concerns live streaming of Hampshire County Council meetings.  They accuse the Council of  wasting £220,000 on streaming council meetings, but the facts are very different, as explained by Conservative County Councillor Colin Davidovitz:

"Liberal Democrats have consistently fought against the County Council’s initiative in broadcasting its Cabinet and Full Council decision making processes that allow local residents to actually see and hear what, how and why decisions are being made on their behalf.

"Conservatives are not afraid of people watching them discussing and debating the policies they are making to cope with demanding situations, support and improve services and to protect the wellbeing of the people they have been elected to serve.

"In fact, this was only made possible because Conservative Councillors voted to allow the unspent sums in their personal budgets to be diverted to fund this initiative that allows local taxpayers to witness the decision making process that has a direct effect on their lives, with out any call on funds from the Council Tax payer.

"Up to now if they wanted to see what went on at these meetings, residents had to travel miles to do so and probably  take time off work. Now if they are not able to see the live broadcast of a meeting they want to see or have read about in a newspaper or pamphlet, they have the opportunity to replay it from the internet at any time to suit  themselves in their own homes.

"One can only assume that Liberal Democrats are scared of what residents’ reactions might be when they are actually able to see their own pathetic performances and the weakness of their contributions in the Council’s debating chambers. They obviously would prefer that residents were kept in the dark, without access to evidence that would enable them to question the allegations and misrepresentations about the County Council that always dominates the propaganda leaflets Lib Dems continually thrust through residents’ letter boxes."

Residents can watch council proceedings at any time

The Liberal Democrats have manipulated the figures to make it look as if only 57 people, the ones who watched  live on their computers, have seen the July Council Meeting, but as Cllr Davidovitz has explained, we can watch the meetings at any time.  Figures for the January meeting show that in fact over 800 people watched it.  That is a far higher figure than would ever have gone to see the meeting at the council offices.

To watch Hampshire County Council Webcasts visit www.hants.gov.uk/watch