bitternepark.info is urging Southampton City Council to ‘carry on streaming’ public meetings ideally as part of a hybrid model as meetings also become open to attend in person.

In a letter to the leader of the council and nearby ward councillors last week, editor Guy Phillips said he believed both face-to-face and streamed meetings offer benefits; among those for streaming were increases in “transparency, accountability and engagement”.

Streaming also “negates the need for pointless journeys into and out of the city perhaps simply to observe or contribute to a meeting for a short period of time”, he added.

He suggested a format that combines the best of both worlds, including a ‘watch again’ facility, as already made available by other local authorities, and said that for this site it would mean a greater range of often very local issues could potentially be reported. 

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