A LOCAL councillor has accused Barnsley Council bosses of ‘not being interested in improving transparency’ for the public - after a motion to webcast all meetings was shot down.

The motion, submitted by the Liberal Democrat group in Barnsley, sought to ensure all meetings would be available online for residents.

Currently, only the cabinet and full council meetings are live-streamed - but the proposals would have led to ‘full transparency’ in the town hall according to the Lib Dems.

However, the motion was shot down by Labour councillors who said that un-elected members who had not been consulted would be affected if their faces were shown.

Council leader Sir Steve Houghton said: “There’s been no consultation, no-one’s asked the people affected, nor do we know if they approve.

“Full council and cabinet meetings are broadcast but in others, which involve staff and members of the public - we should seek their consent before we actually agree to this.

“We need to be very careful in putting staff members’ faces out into the public domain.

“Before we go down the route of subjecting people to this, we need to make sure exactly what we’re doing and what we’re getting ourselves into.

“I just do not know what their views are, but they may not wish to have their faces broadcast, so I am going to find out before we do anything.

“There should be full consultation and a full risk analysis carried out, with safeguarding procedures put in place.

“The planning committee is already being assessed for this, but I can’t agree until we have the evidence before us.”

Coun Steve Hunt, who brought the motion to the council, said that Labour’s objection to transparency - citing safety - ‘doesn’t work’.

He added: “This is a disappointing day for democracy and transparency in Barnsley.

“What we are proposing is already happening successfully in many other local authorities.

“If the Labour group really wanted to do this, they could have submitted an amendment to address their concerns.

“Instead, they have chosen to vote this down showing they are not really interested in improving the council’s transparency.”

Coun James Higginbottom said that the council do want to improve transparency but without consultation the motion could not be passed.

He said: “It’s an interesting debate and broadly speaking, we all want to improve transparency.

“What it lacks, this motion, is a clear commitment to carry out a risk assessment - this has to be done before we go down this route.

“We’re on public display as elected members, but members of staff are not - we have to consult with them and perhaps trade unions.

“There has to be a careful period of consultation first so I am not able to support today.”

Coun Chris Wray, who seconded the motion, said: “For too long, people who work and have commitments in the core working day have been unable to watch the discussions around what impacts them in meetings like planning.

“We called for a simple change that would ensure Barnsley residents could watch committee meetings, as councils across the country already do.

“It’s also surprising that the leaders of the UK’s first tech town can’t seem to figure out how to webcast extra meetings that are already public, extend the current technology outside of the town hall, or even something as simple as not pointing the camera at the person who is speaking, if they have an opt-out.”