I assume that all Labour Councils allow unfettered access then Sunny? (For the record they should all have open access but the OP is just pointless partisan posturing).

Oh dear Falco – at the minimum you’d think that Pickles’ favourite Tory council would have signed up to his scheme?

This isn’t about whether all Labour councils have signed up – its more that while Pickles claims to be pushing ahead on being open – this doesn’t exactly translate on the ground.

Dunno how partisan it all is, Falco. I’m not a Labour party member, or a Labour party fan, even, but my experience thus far is that one is certainly shown the door by Tory councils.

This one backed down last week, presumably moments after Bob Neill’s letter slid through the slot:

http://www.hangbitching.com/2011/02/government-says-we-can-film-council-meetings-so-we-will/

Could be interesting at Barnet tomorrow, because unions are calling for a film-in to test Pickles’ resolve. Pickles on Hillian. Could be messy.

Barnet Council may be acting unlawfully if the press is really only allowed, as Lynne Hilleir suggests, to record/film meetings if the Council says so.

The Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Eliz2/8-9/67/section/1) says:

“Duly accredited representatives of newspapers attending for the purpose of reporting the proceedings for those newspapers shall, so far as practicable, be afforded reasonable facilities for taking their report and, unless the meeting is held in premises not belonging to the body or not on the telephone, for telephoning the report at their own expense.”

Clearly the technology has changed since 1960 so it would be a matter for the courts as to whether recording/filming is a legitimate paprt of ‘reporting the proceedings’, but at least in the case of audio I think it would be difficult to argue that journalists do not have an automatic right to use a tape recorder as they see fit; a tape recorder is a normal part of a journo’s toolkit now, and to say she can’t use it would, I suspect, be found to be ‘unreasonable’.

As far as I know there’s no case law on this yet, but I think there may soon be.

Mind you, Labour run authorities are no better – we kicked out the press photographer at our budget meeting because he hadn’t asked for prior approval!

And our leader refuses to publish financial information too!

The main thing I drew from this post is that David Hencke doesn’t know anything about Canute.

Liberal Democrat councils aren’t always better, even when they campaign on a platform of openness. See Cambridge City Council and their efforts to stop local blogger Richard Taylor videotaping meetings (which the Tory-run County Council happily puts up with).

Be interested to know how the definition of accredited turns out.

I’m an NUJ cardholder, and a freelancer. I should be afforded the same rights as journos who work for accredited papers, because frankly, people like me are the ones turning up to these things and putting ourselves in a position where we will take the fall. The Guardian and the BBC contact me and use my stuff and hell – I’m taking a much bigger risk than they are. I don’t want to work full-time for an accredited (MSM) paper or outlet, but I should be afforded the same rights – given especially how the MSM increasingly relies on us for content.

Sunny,

You notice Mr Pickles said he ‘encouraged’ councils to open up – that is, he would like them to do so.

He did not say they had to do so, so this is hardly defiance. And please tell me that your favourite council (it seems an odd idea, especially for the minister in charge of them – has someone got Mr Pickles to identify Barnet as his favourite council?) has never let you down by making odd decisions (I’ll accept your view on odd here…).

All this proves is that power corrupts, but Mr Pickles at least is working on limiting the amount that this corruption can be kept secret – even if some of his own party are rather less than eager. No surprise that some Conservatives are somewhat conservative – any more than finding some Liberal Democrats believe in democracy or some Labour party representatives are committed to organised labour…

We had an issue of people trying to record council meetings a few years ago. It may have changed, though I doubt it, but while people had the right to attend open sessions they had to seek permission to use recording aparatus.

Of course, we may have been ill advised at the time. The official giving the advice later left under a cloud.

“The only thing we will do is consider responsible media requests, and they are the only thing we would allow at this stage.”

Ho-ho! And what does that mean, exactly?

“If we had a request I would expect an officer to approach me about it. I do not think we would consider a request from bloggers. Only respectable media would be considered.”

I’m having trouble thinking of a stupider way she could have expressed that without including racist epithets.

I’m afraid I don’t quite see why this is such a supposedly big deal. As a previous poster pointed out, Mr. Pickles was saying “I’d like it if…” rather than “You must…”, so not doing it is hardly “defiance”. Surely localism means letting local organisations make their own decisions, even if they don’t choose what you personally would like?

I’m not entirely sure that the swipe at Tim Montgomerie comes from, either, or why you assume that the Barnet Councillors are his “chums” simply because they happen to belong to the same party.

Birmingham won’t allow audio/video recordings or stills without prior approval by another council committee, but they were welcoming (ish) to bloggers and there were several at today’s budget-setting meeting.