POLICY ON FILMING, AUDIO-RECORDING, PHOTOGRAPHING AND REPORTING OF COUNCIL AND COMMITTEE MEETINGS

          (adopted by Badgworth Parish Council on 1st December 2014) 

1.  The Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014 (2014 SI No. 2095), which came into  
      force on 6 August 2014, require parish councils to allow any person to film, audio-record or take 
      photographs of, and to report on, the proceedings of any part of a meeting which the public 
      are entitled to attend by law. (The Regulations also contain provision requiring a written record to 
      be kept of certain decisions made by officers; the Parish Council has a separate policy on this.) 

2.  The Regulations do not require parish councils to allow filming, &c, of any part of a meeting where  
      the public are excluded by reason of the confidential nature of the business or where publicity 
      would be prejudicial to the public interest. Exclusion of the public must be authorised by a 
      resolution of the meeting and the reason for exclusion must be stated. 

3.  The Regulations apply only to formal, decision-making meetings of the Council, a committee or a 
      sub-committee and not to informal meetings or meetings of a working party without decision-
      making powers. 

4.  The Department for Communities & Local Government has published a  ‘plain English’ guide to the 
     Regulations ( https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-and-accountable-local-government-plain-english-guide  ). 
     Badgworth Parish Council’s policy is based  on this guide. 

5.  The Parish Council has no objection to quiet and inconspicuous filming, photography, tweeting and 
      blogging using a hand-held device such as a mobile phone or tablet. Oral commentary in the 
      meeting room during a meeting is not permitted by the Regulations and may be disruptive. 

6.  The Parish Council asks anyone proposing to use a device larger than a mobile phone or tablet to 
     notify the Clerk prior to the start of the meeting so that proper facilities can if possible be provided. 

7.  The Regulations apply to councillors as they do to members of the public but councillors will wish to 
      ensure that they are not distracted from the business of the meeting. 

8.  Members of the public who attend a meeting merely to observe it are not taking part in the 
     proceedings and the Parish Council asks others not to film or photograph them without their 
     consent. Children or vulnerable adults attending a meeting should not be filmed or photographed. 

9.  Anyone acting in a disruptive manner may be asked by the Chair to stop doing so and if they 
     continue they may be asked to leave the meeting. The DCLG guide gives the following examples of 
     disruptive activity: 
*     moving to areas outside the areas designated for the public without the consent of the Chair; 
     *     excessive noise in recording or setting up or re-siting equipment during the meeting; 
     *     intrusive lighting and use of flash photography; 
     *     asking people to repeat statements for the purposes of recording. 

10.Recording equipment may be left running in the meeting room even if the person using it leaves the 
     room. However it may not be left running for a part of a meeting where the public are excluded and 
     an officer of the Council may stop the recording or switch off the equipment if this happens. 

11.Those filming, &c, meetings are reminded that requirements of general law apply to their activities, 
      for example: 
      *  the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998 may apply to personal information about living 
           individuals including visual images; 
      *  there may be legal liability for defamatory or offensive statements, including statements made by 
          people being filmed that are ‘published’  by the person filming. 

12.The Parish Council cannot advise on general law and accepts no liability for any material created by 
      those filming, &c, a meeting. 

13. This policy excludes the open forum which is not part of the open meeting of the Parish Council.

14.The Parish Council will review this policy after twelve months.