Calls for council to put video recording of meeting online

Opposition Labour councillors have submitted a formal request for the video of a key Overview and Scrutiny meeting on December 15 to be available for the public to watch on YouTube.

The meeting was one in which Labour members had “called in” the contentious decision by Wyre’s Cabinet to fund the reopening of the YMCA pool and leisure amenities at Garstang and

Thornton after lockdown - but keep those at Fleetwood and Poulton closed.

By calling in the Cabinet decision, Fleetwood Labour councillors Lorraine Beavers and Cheryl Raynor wanted that decision to be discussed at the O&S meeting, and a vote taken to get it reconsidered.

But the O&S meeting proved controversial amidst claims by Labour that vital new data on leisure centres was ignored, with most Conservatives then voting against proposals to have the Cabinet decision reconsidered.

Coun Rob Fail, leader of Wyre’s Labour group, has criticised both the decision not to publish the video and a decision by Conservative councillors this month to formally approve the minutes of the meeting, which he says is not an accurate account of what Labour councillors said.

Wyre Council has hit back at the claims.

Coun Fail said: “It is of deep concern that the standard of meeting minutes has been purposely dumbed down, and that Labour councillors have effectively been excluded from having any meaningful input into the content of meeting minutes.

“If we are now not able to see these recordings of meetings either, that raises serious questions of accountability and undermines democracy.

“These actions may impact councillors but ultimately it is the public that suffer with the council becoming less accountable to the public.”

But a Wyre Council spokesman said: “There is no requirement for the council to publish video recordings of meetings

“Written minutes are still a standard format for reporting on meetings and their purpose is not meant to be a transcript of events but to represent the salient points only.

"The minutes of the meeting of the O&S Committee held on 15 December 2020 were formally agreed by the committee at their meeting on 18 January with one minor factual amendment made subsequently.

“These minutes are made available to the public in the normal way on the council’s website.”

Although Labour councillors have called for all four leisure centres to be opened, claiming funds are available for that option, it is the continued closure of the Fleetwood pool in particular which has proved most controversial, with a campaign group in the town staging two protests against it.

But Wyre has argued that Garstang is the most viable of its YMCA swimming pools to be used for the “trial opening” after lockdown ends, against a background of difficulties caused by the coronavirus pandemic.