Extension Of Webcasting Of Meetings At Council HQ

6th March 2010

The Highland Council's pilot webcasting scheme is to be extended so that by the end of this year all council and strategic committee meetings held at Council headquarters in Inverness can be viewed by the public from their computers.

At present, the Council webcasts meetings held in the Council Chamber of the Planning Environmental and Development Committee as well as the Inverness Nairn Badenoch and Strathspey Planning Applications Committee and the Inverness Nairn Badenoch and Strathspey Licensing Committee. Meetings of the Northern Joint Police Board, which are held at Council HQ, are also webcast.

The extension of the service will be at an estimated additional cost of £22,156.

Councillor Sandy Park, Convener of The Highland Council, welcomed the decision. He said: "Having all our meetings webcast will allow many more people to follow how we do business and provide an easy and convenient way of watching and listening to debates and seeing how decisions are made. Anything that opens up how we operate and makes decision making more accessible and transparent is to be welcomed."

Councillor Ian Ross, Chairman of the Planning Environment and Development Committee, also welcomed the full roll out of webcasting. He said: "The pilot webcasting of planning and licensing committees and the Northern Joint Police Board has proved a success and I am delighted that it is being extended."

Councillor Michael Foxley, Leader of the Council's Administration, also highlighted Council plans to make much greater use of video conferencing, which would reduce costs and significant travel time. The Council was working with other key public agencies to ensure much more business was conducted by video links.

He said: "Technology allows us to make savings by reducing travel time," he said. "We can spend up to eight hours travelling in a train from Inverness to meetings in Glasgow/Edinburgh and video conferencing in many instances will not only save us this travel time, but will also help us to cut down on expense and reduce carbon emissions."

Webcasts in the pilot can be viewed at www.highland.public-i.tv/site/