Row resurfaces as cost of scrapped plans to live stream Harrogate Borough Council meetings is revealed

In January, an idea to broadcast meetings online from the authority's headquarters was shut down by councillors who claimed it would have been too expensive.

Council leader Richard Cooper said it would have cost "tens of thousands of pounds" - however - the actual figures were never made public.

That was until Harrogate resident Jerry Diccox submitted a Freedom of Information request which was initially rejected by the council due to "commercial sensitivity" reasons, but then overturned by the data watchdog Information Commissioner's Office.

The findings - which took more than six months to uncover - show the council received three quotes for streaming its meetings, ranging from just over £5,000 to nearly £48,000.

Mr Diccox has now accused the authority of "behaving like a secret state" and questioned how it could justify its decision to reject online meetings was "reasonable" without revealing the costs.

"In my experience, this council too often behaves as though it is not fully accountable to the public," he said.

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Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, meetings are currently being held remotely and streamed on YouTube using simple software.

Liberal Democrat councillor Chris Aldred - who put forward the idea of live streaming face-to-face meetings - has also criticised the council's Conservative administration and called for a rethink on the decision when normal meetings return.

Councillor Aldred said: "I was obviously aware that the lowest of the quotes obtained by council officers for the provision of such a service was just over £5,000. Not an inconsiderable amount, but nowhere near the figure council leader Richard Cooper was claiming it would cost.

"I am very grateful to Mr Diccox for submitting his Freedom of Information request, which is a time consuming process in itself and for exposing councillor Cooper's misleading and high handed comments."

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Councillor Cooper said while he believed the council followed a correct process in not revealing the costs, he accepted the watchdog's decision.

He said: "It is pretty standard for the details of contracts and quotes for work not to be released into the public domain as this allows suppliers to alter their prices in line with those of their competitors. After all in an auction you don't declare the highest price you are willing to pay at the outset

"However, in this instance the Information Commissioner decided differently and I have no problem with that.

"During the Covid-19 situation we are broadcasting a YouTube stream of an MS Teams meeting where all the participants are in their homes. This is a long way from the live streaming of meetings in the council chamber detailed in the report.

"At a time when the council has identified a multi-million pound drop in revenue I wouldn't want to be spending any money on hardware for live streaming meetings for a council chamber that isn't being used for any meetings.

"That just wouldn't make any sense."

By Jacob Webster, Local Democracy Reporter