COUNCIL bosses have been accused of "trying to avoid scrutiny" after imposing a blackout of live streaming on a key North Ayrshire meeting.

A full North Ayrshire Council meeting - the last before the summer recess - is being held today (Wednesday, June 26). 

But NAC's website indicates there will be no live stream of the meeting, meaning members of the public, and the media, will not be able to observe proceedings unless they're in the council chamber in Irvine.

A council official said the move was taken because of the 'purdah' rules around the General Election, which are in place to prevent other levels of government publicising statements that could have an influence on how people vote on July 4.

NAC's website states a video of the meeting will be provided at a later date - and it's understood that it's unlikely to be made available until after polling day.

 

Jamie Black, a member of Largs Community Council, criticised the move - and pointed out that live streaming was still being provided of the Scottish Parliament's proceedings, despite the ongoing election campaign.

One of North Ayrshire's councillors, Todd Ferguson (Conservative, North Coast) is standing in the election as his party's candidate in North Ayrshire and Arran.

Mr Black said: "It's disappointing when there are key items to be discussed, and questions being asked relevant to life in North Ayrshire, that interested members of the public appear to be excluded from seeing and hearing the debate.

"For example, I'm concerned about more education cuts. There's a question being asked, and I won't be able to hear the answer.

"There's to be a debate on spending additional money from government on an energy project, rather than alleviating existing cuts, but we won't hear the debate on that either.

"The Scottish Parliament is sitting and debating Bills publicly, so I think this is a case of trying to avoid scrutiny.

"They've quoted the 'webcast protocol', and as I've pointed out, their own protocol does not state to cancel webcasts. "

The protocol states: "Please note that the council is prohibited from producing political publicity.

"This is defined as any material which in whole or in part, appears to be designed to effect political support for a political party.

"This duty is more acute during pre-election periods, which run from publication of the notice of election to the election.

"While politics can be a normal part of council meetings, proceedings which are inherently political may have to be removed from any broadcast to avoid breaching the rules on political publicity.

"During pre-election periods there may be a short delay in broadcasting to ensure that any political publicity is not accidentally published."

The 'purdah' rules came into effect at the end of May.

While some other local authorities, including South Ayrshire, have stated that broadcasts of meetings will not be made available online until a later date, others have continued to livestream, and/or make video footage available of, key meetings during June.

Mr Black added: "This has been a decision by democratic services. I have asked for it to be escalated to the chief executive.

"There is no reason, especially not since the public can attend in person, not to broadcast this."

A North Ayrshire Council spokesperson said: “During any pre-election period, all Council staff take additional care to ensure that we continue to act in a completely impartial manner and in accordance with the rules on political publicity.

“Given that the UK General Election will be held next week, the decision was taken not to live stream the June meeting of Full Council to ensure we comply with the regulations regarding political publicity.

“However, the meeting will be recorded and uploaded online at a later date.”