Merseyside Digital Development

Council planning meetings go live online August 22, 2007

Wirral Council is the first authority in the Northwest to launch online web casts of Planning Committee Meetings. All Planning decisions can now be viewed live from anywhere in the world via Wirral Council’s website, http://www.wirral.gov.uk/

The new facility uses web cameras at council meetings to capture the live information and send it to a central server, which in turn sends it to anyone that would like to view the meeting via the internet.

The webcast facility also archives each meeting, meaning that recorded meetings can be viewed online at any time of day, as many times as required. The use of the index points allow you to jump to a specific agenda point or speaker.

Chair of the Planning Committee, Councillor John Cocker, welcomes the move;

“This new facility is very good news for Wirral residents and developers. Now the meetings can be watched live, or at a time that suits you, from the comfort of your own arm chair or from the side of a swimming pool on holiday.

Its also going to save many journeys across Wirral to watch the meetings in person, people can now log on and watch at home or at work, saving unnecessary car journeys”

The next planning meeting is on Thursday 23rd August at 6:00pm. To access the web cast facility, visit http://www.wirral.gov.uk/ and click on ‘Planning Webcasts’ on the right hand menu, or simply click here. The pilot scheme will be running until the end of the January 2008.