Council's Record Breaking Webcasting Service

Date Added - 24/07/09

Moray Council is attracting a record number of viewers to its webcasting service.

In the first six months of 2009, 16,600 people tuned in to council debates, nearly six thousand more than the UK’s biggest local authority, Kent County Council, attracted to its webcasts.

Meetings of the council’s committees have been broadcast over the internet since the service was introduced in 2005.

The public access facility was installed in the council debating chamber as part of a major refurbishment, and was a first for any Scottish authority.

The cameras have allowed the public to watch debates live, or from the archives at their own convenience. This compares to 2008 when Moray Council attracted 10,430 for the whole year.

Convener of The Moray Council, Cllr George McIntyre, said: “The council invests just over £20,000 a year in this service, so it’s very gratifying to know people are using it in such numbers.

“We are committed to our priority of conducting council business in an open and transparent manner, and the webcast service is part of that commitment.”

Since Moray Council installed the webcast service, some other Scottish authorities have followed.

The latest of these is Highland Council, which has just agreed terms with the Brighton-based providers, Public-i.

Some viewing figures for other authorities:

Moray 16,606

Kent   10,770

Epping 8,213

Bristol 22,010 (Bristol were the first council in the UK to adopt webcasting)