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Tuesday, April 29, 2025

Nottingham City Council to livestream its meetings online

Nottingham City Council is planning to livestream its council meetings to improve public access to how it makes decisions.

The authority is one of the few Nottinghamshire councils that doesn’t routinely stream meetings online.

Most other authorities do so through their websites, YouTube or Microsoft Teams.

Councillors in the Council House on December 18
Councillors in the Council House on December 18

A Nottingham City Council spokesperson confirmed it is considering options to broadcast its full council, executive board and other committee meetings, but a timeline has not been set.

It is unclear whether cameras would be fitted at Nottingham Council House, where meetings of all councillors are held, or its Loxley House headquarters, where most smaller meetings take place, or both.

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The only other Nottinghamshire councils not to livestream their meetings are Bassetlaw District Council and Ashfield District Council.

Neither of these authorities commented on whether they too were looking to invest in equipment to do this.

Nottingham City Councils scrutiny committee meeting on November 9 scaled
Nottingham City Council’s scrutiny committee meeting

Nottinghamshire County Council spent £400,000 on a live-streaming system for its council chamber in 2022, including cameras to track each speaker.

Mansfield District Council invested £9,000 in their own kit last year to “improve access and transparency” to local democracy at meetings.

All local authorities moved online during the pandemic, with emergency government legislation allowing them to temporarily hold virtual public meetings.

Local authorities reported that participation of both residents and councillors increased.

Although members of the public are allowed to attend any meeting, broadcasting allows them to more easily follow councillors’ decisions and debates.

Councils say it benefits people who don’t have the time, resources or physical ability to attend a meeting in-person, and the technology can also allow speakers to appear remotely.

 

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