THE leader of Torfaen council has raised the issue of the authority’s constitution over the use of recording devices in the public gallery during meetings.

Cllr Bob Wellington spoke on the matter of webcasting, as councillors voted in favour of procuring 60 hours of webcast material each year and top-up allowances.

However, the Greenmeadow ward councillor spoke out against incidents where footage had been recorded from the gallery and uploaded online after being edited.

“People have filmed from the gallery and then edited the film and put the edited version on Youtube or whatever provision is available,” he said.

“That’s not right – there is a legal, legitimate filming being done by the council which should be adequate for any council business.”

The introduction of webcasting all council meetings was discussed in December 2012, before the first live meeting was broadcast on September 25, 2013.

Torfaen is one of only two Welsh authorities, along with Monmouthshire, which offers this live broadcasting for all council meetings.

“We are the most liberal authority that exists in Wales as far as webcasting is concerned,” said Cllr Wellington, who sought clarification from the matter from the council’s monitoring officer, Lynda Willis.

Cllr Brian Mawby later confirmed that the matter of the public filming from the gallery was already part of the constitution.

The matter was queried by Cllr Mike Harris, who said: “His argument holds no water and I’ll explain why.

“Whether it’s the council filming or a member of the public, just say that the public are not allowed to film and edit, you can go to the archive, you can edit and you can upload that onto Youtube.

“It doesn’t actually stop editing of videos at all,” said the Pontypool ward councillor.

All councillors present in the chamber during the vote moved unanimously in favour with the decision, in line with the recommend view of procuring 60 hours per year, as well as top-up hours when required.