Monday 22 August 2011

Excuses, Excuses

Of the many and varied excuses given by Carmarthenshire Council concerning the newly imposed restrictions to access to the public gallery, this one is particularly imaginative. A member of the public who attended the meeting on the 13th July made a complaint in that the procedure was intrusive, humiliating, and at best, unwelcoming. The complainant also stated that, like everyone else who has followed the #daftarrest story, they were well aware of the Council's 'reasoning' behind it all but questioned the justification of a blanket approach. Further queries have also been asked by others with regards to the fire and safety assessments for members of the public under the 'new arrangements', so far the response has been inadequate to say the least.

 you would almost think they believe it themselves;

"In accordance with fire regulations and the security of the building and its staff it is necessary, as with every large building accommodating a large number of staff (be it public or private sector) to maintain a record of every visitor entering and leaving the building.
In the event of a fire the designated fire safety manager has an up to date record of how many visitors there are within the building and where they are located so that a proper head count is undertaken and the information passed on to the attending Fire Officer. The building also has to be secure to safeguard staff and their belongings, the visitors log and security doors provide information on who was in the building at the time an event occurred and where they went within the building. You will also notice that there are CCTV cameras in the foyer to assist with this aspect.
Maintaining the security of County Hall is therefore not "unique to Wales " for the reasons outlined above.
The reason why members of the public have to be accompanied to and from the public gallery by staff is purely to provide access through 2 sets of security doors which also act as Fire Doors. I must reiterate the fact that the Council is not preventing any member of the public from attending a meeting of the Council or its committees to observe the proceedings but as is the case in Parliament, Welsh Assembly Government and the other 22 Unitary Councils in Wales, the Council does not and is not required under the Law to allow members of the public to record or film the proceedings of meetings. The Council also has to consider the human rights of individuals who are being filmed against their wishes.
The statement that is provided to members of the public to read at the reception desk merely points out the conditions for attendance in the public gallery and the signed undertaking confirms that person's agreement to abide by those conditions, no more no less."


So there you have it, the restictions were imposed because of fire regulations. Nothing to do with 'anything else' then - despite the fact that the external door to access the gallery has been open during public meetings since time immemorial and no member of the public has ever had to sign in, read laminated warnings on filming, sign undertakings or be 'escorted' to the gallery etc.... ever. If the undertaking is required as an agreement of attendance surely it should contain a variety of conditions? Disruptive activities such as heckling, playing loud music, cooking, or swinging from the chandeliers could also be mentioned but it is only the peaceful 'policy-less' activity of filming which is.
It is also odd that the Council is mentioning the human rights of those being filmed 'against their wishes' - clearly that doesn't apply to the CCTV camera in the foyer then? Then again, in my experience, human rights are not a Carmarthenshire Council strong point.

As for the issue of filming, that will be a question for the Autumn Term. I can imagine, probably not all that long ago, when the thorny and controversial issue to trouble our Council was whether quills should be replaced by the technologically alarming ballpoint pen, (some of our Councillors can probably recollect the fierce debates), especially given it's anti-democratic, disruptive and worrying capability to 'write quickly'.

http://carmarthenplanning.blogspot.com/2011/07/locked-out.html

3 comments:

Photon said...

"You will also notice that there are CCTV cameras in the foyer to assist with this aspect."

So, they are going to have time to look at CCTV footage in order to account for everyone in the event of an emergency, are they? Very interesting.


"points out the conditions for attendance in the public gallery and the signed undertaking confirms that person's agreement to abide by those conditions, no more no less."

Indeed. Including no mention of what their remedy is if you don't 'abide'.

And the best of all, seeing as all this super-worry about the public is just a month or so old, we must assume the council were breaching all these obligations previously.

"The Council also has to consider the human rights of individuals who are being filmed against their wishes."

The ICO has already said this is nonsense. If you are a public servant, you are in the public eye.

Cneifiwr said...

As you say, this was a pretty disingenuous response. Interesting also that the council raises human rights as an obstacle to recording public meetings.

So Carmarthenshire County Council finds itself in the company of the Murdoch press and various other unsavoury groupings who constantly quote daft and misleading interpretations of the legislation in order to discredit it.

Adults who put themselves forward for public office and are paid handsomely for it, do not have a right of anonimity or privacy while they are carrying out their functions. If they think they have, they are plain wrong, and Carmarthenshire's salaried officers should be forcibly reminding them that public office means that your actions and decisions are open to scrutiny instead of encouraging those councillors who treat the council as a private club.

Anonymous said...

It really beggars belief that some of the comments made by some Council Employees are the result of fervent imagination. I think it is many years since banana boats came up the Towy but the public are supposed to take these comments seriously. May I suggest that Officers of the Council have a short fixed term contract of employment and their behaviour is monitored by an independent panel composed of a broad spectrum of the public. Perhaps then their "holier than thou" attitude would be curtailed.