Hednesford Town Council meetings go live on Facebook

Councillors in Hednesford are appealing for people to witness democracy in action thanks to a live stream of meetings on Facebook.

Monthly town council sessions are now being filmed and shared on the popular social media site.

It’s hoped that those watching can also have useful comments shared in the public part of the meetings.

There have been 300 views of the last council meeting, held on Tuesday, July 30, on Facebook – which councillors consider a positive response through word of mouth.

The council’s aim is to encourage more people to engage with local politics and to see that they can have a voice in important decisions about the town.

Council chairman, Paul Woodhead said: “The benefit of Facebook is that our meetings can be streamed live and people can see exactly what’s happening.

“Providing live filming of proceedings gives our community immediate access to the meeting without them having to physically be there.

“We want to encourage a greater number of people to get involved – you can follow what’s happening on a laptop, tablet, smart phone or desktop computer.

“Everyone is always welcome to attend our meetings to ask questions and raise issues in the public part of the meeting but this is going further in taking our meeting to people’s homes, should they choose to welcome us in.

“We want to help more people see and grasp how local government operates and get them more involved. We hope this is a useful step in helping people find the confidence to speak up about what’s important to them.

“Maybe they would like to take part in community groups, lobby us on a particular issue or even stand as a councillor themselves.

“It can all start with seeing the council in action and we hope people appreciate the chance to get involved.”

To access Hednesford Town Council meetings on Facebook, search ‘Hednesford Town Council’ and like the page. The next council meeting is at 7.30pm on Tuesday, September 10.