Shropshire Council's camera confiscation undemocratic and illegal, claim campaigners
The confiscation of cameras which were being used by members of the public to film a Shropshire Council meeting was undemocratic, campaigners have said.
Shropshire Council has said it will review its policy after two members of the Ludlow Campaign for Fairness had cameras taken off them at a meeting at Shirehall on Thursday.
The campaigners were there to raise questions about council services being transferred to ip&e, a commercial company set up by Shropshire Council that objectors say amounts to privatisation of public services.
In a statement, Shropshire Council confirmed filming is allowed in meetings, but says the cameras were confiscated due to the disruptive behaviour of the campaigners.
But Daniel McDowell, one of the founders of Ludlow Campaign for Fairness, said he did not think the move was legal, and is calling for the matter to be looked into further.
He said: "It (the filming) certainly wasn't disruptive – no-one noticed until the chairman made a fuss.
"We think it was unnecessary and possibly illegal to confiscate the cameras.
"Councils are supposed to be accountable but they tend to get into the habit of not being so as they concentrate on running things internally.
"It's understandable in a way, but it's wrong – things are supposed to be democratic."
Councillor Andy Boddington, Shropshire councillor for Ludlow North who was at the meeting, said council bosses should apologise.
He said: "Shropshire Council hasn't got the hang of how democracy works in our multi-media age. It's behaviour was disgraceful."
But a spokesman for Shropshire Council said: "Members of the public are very welcome to attend meetings, and we are happy for them to photograph and film at these meetings.
"However, we do ask people act in a calm and responsible manner. Unfortunately, due to disruptive behaviour by a small number of people it was necessary to confiscate their cameras."
