Richard Taylor

Tag: Openness

  • List of Cambridgeshire County Councillors Voting Against Publishing Their Voting Record

    On the 25th of March 2014 Cambridgeshire County Councillors voted on if details of how they have voted at meetings ought be published. I obtained the voting record by filming the screens at the meeting which display the votes cast to those present and am publishing below a list of those councillors who voted against […]

  • Cambridgeshire County Council – Live Streaming and Publishing Votes

    In a first for me I’m going to be debated at Cambridgeshire County Council’s full council on Tuesday the 25th of March 2014. A motion submitted by East Chesterton’s Councillor Ian G Manning, on filming council meetings, asks the council to note: Local blogger Richard Taylor recently demonstrated at Cambridge City Council how easy it […]

  • Live Streaming of Special Cambridge City Council Full Council on the Local Plan

    On the 13th of February 2014 I streamed a meeting of Cambridge City Council’s full council live on YouTube. I believe this is the first time one of Cambridge City Council’s meetings has been “broadcast” live. As well as being available live, the videos are available to watch again: Part One Public questions and petitions: […]

  • New Law on Filming Meetings of Local Government Bodies

    On the 25th of October 2013 the Minister for Local Government, Eric Pickles MP, announced a “new press freedom law to open up town halls”. Very rapidly after that announcement, on Monday the 28th of October MPs in the House of Commons agreed to instruct the Local Audit and Accountability Bill Committee to add a […]

  • Minister Eric Pickles Cites My Tips for Reporting on Local Councils

    Local Government Minister Eric Pickles has this morning cited my recent article Tips for Observing and Reporting on Public Meetings in Local Government in an official Department for Communities and Local Government press release. The release is sub-headded: “Abuse of state powers as councils threaten bloggers with arrest” and states: Local Government Secretary, Eric Pickles, […]

  • Battle to Film at Huntingdonshire District Council

    I decided to observe Huntingdonshire District Council’s full council on Wednesday the 26th of June 2013. I was particularly interested in hearing the debate to be led by Police and Crime Commissioner Graham Bright who was scheduled to speak to the council and take questions from councillors. Prior to attending I looked up the council’s […]

  • Request for Cambridgeshire Police Board Meeting Papers Deemed Vexatious

    Since November 2012, when Police Authorities were abolished and Police and Crime Commissioners introduced, I have been making regular Freedom of Information requests for the meeting papers of Cambridgeshire Police’s Force Executive Board. While the Police Authority was in existence information on proposed significant changes to policing would be pro-actively published online in Police Authority […]

  • Cambridge Magistrates Court Lists Obtained via Freedom of Information Request

    FOI Request – Cambridge Magistrates Court List Information While the doors of our adult courts in the UK are unlocked and anyone can just walk in and observe what’s going on they don’t effectively operate in an open and transparent manner. Our courts fail to pro-actively and openly publish information about what they are doing. […]

  • Police and Crime Commissioner Graham Bright Meets Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Panel Members Behind Closed Doors

    On the 21st of November I went to Huntingdon where a a meeting of Cambridgeshire’s Shadow Police and Crime Panel was scheduled to take place. A meeting paper gave the “title/purpose” of the meeting as “Meet the Commissioner”. The meeting was listed online as being “private”, however in my view it met the legal definition […]

  • What Cambridgeshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Should Do

    A Holistic View Cambridgeshire and Peterborough’s Police and Crime Commissioner should provide strategic direction not just for the police, but for the work of the courts, prison and probation services, local councils and other bodies with an impact on policing, crime and justice matters in the area; including schools and health service providers. The creation […]