Northern Ireland

Belfast council 'working groups' to be recorded

AUDIO recordings of working groups at Belfast City Council are be made available to the public in a bid to increase transparency in City Hall funding decisions.

Since 2014, working groups have allocated more than £4.5m to projects across the city.

Working groups were formed to allow for early discussions on matters before reports would be submitted for consideration by BCC committees and, ultimately, the full council.

“The Working Groups were a less formal way in which discussions could commence on matters which would, ultimately, come before a Standing Committee for formal approval,” according to council documents.

However, this led to a situation where, as they were not governed by rules set out in legislation, working groups became “entirely discretionary” or, as one councillor put it, they had “unintentionally become a money allocating body outside of the scrutiny of the public”.

All full council meetings have been streamed live since 2015 and committee meetings have been recorded since January 2016.

In January, Alliance councillor Peter McReynolds tabled a motion calling for all future working groups to also be audio recorded and uploaded to the council website.

Councillor McReynolds has said the audio recording of Belfast City Council working groups is a “major win” for ratepayers.

According to council documents, editorial control over the recordings will be exercised only “to the extent that is necessary to avoid the publication of defamatory content or other material which it would be unlawful to publish”

This job will fall to the City Solicitor.