St Peter Port live stream in bid to raise meeting interest
ST PETER PORT douzaine broke new ground when members live streamed its parish meeting, taking the discussion on the rates, street lighting and dog tax into people’s homes.
New constable Zoe Lihou said it was all part of efforts to improve openness, transparency and accessibility.
‘We knew that there were some parishioners who couldn’t make it, and it isn’t everybody’s cup of tea,’ she said.
‘It’s a hard sell, the parish meetings. Without having flame-throwers and jugglers it’s very hard to make it exciting, but we want to make it an enjoyable event where people feel they are valued.
‘All too often I think that historically people have been barked at and shot down, and it can be seen as quite a stuffy affair, so we just wanted to make it a bit more interactive so that we all could enjoy ourselves because there’s no point going somewhere and not having fun.’
Before the meeting Mrs Lihou put out a video on social media where she went through the remede, which is the parish budget, line-by-line so that people could understand it better.
There were some technical issues with the meeting broadcast, including no sound at times, and the video was ‘on its side’, having been rotated, and it suddenly cut out after 26 minutes.
However, the attempt was generally applauded, and next time the douzaine aims to find a tripod on which to mount a video camera.
Explaining the remede online was very well received, said Mrs Lihou. The live streaming could only be improved.
‘I think it’s something we will continue, so November time when we’ve got our parish meeting for the elections, that will be a good opportunity to help promote the candidates that put themselves forward.
‘If the speeches that they deliver at the front of the room can be streamed to a wider audience, it creates a fairer playing field.’
The meeting was well attended by people who turned up at Les Cotils, and there were a number of questions, including about street lighting and energy conservation, the potential for a dog warden, and books for schools.
The budget was agreed, setting the owner’s rate at 18.31p per TRP unit, which will levy nearly £647,000.
Parishioners also voted that more than £708,000 will be levied through the refuse rate at a standard charge of £79.34 per habitable unit for the current year.
Former constable Jenny Tasker was presented with a bottle of champagne to thank her for her hard work and contribution to the douzaine.
