WREXHAM Council members have been warned they could face “enforcement action” for sharing videos of meetings online.

The local authority webcasts its executive board and planning meetings, as well as full council and some scrutiny committee meetings.

They are available to watch live or on demand after the conclusion of the meeting.

But after Cllr Carrie Harper posted a clip of fellow Plaid Cymru member Cllr Marc Jones speaking at the recent budget debate at executive board earlier this month, a warning was circulated asking members to refrain from doing so.

Council bosses say they fear it could lead to debates being taken out of context and misconstrued by the public.

In an email to councillors, seen by the Leader, Wrexham Council’s head of corporate and customer services Trevor Coxon reminds members that as part of the webcast site’s copyright, the webpage where the whole of the meeting can be viewed can be referred to – but not select clips.

In the email Mr Coxon states: “There have been some recent instances of partial clips from the council webcast appearing on social media sites.

“This is not permitted as it can give a distorted, partisan impression of the whole context of the clip.

“Please ensure you do not breach the council copyright in this way or enforcement action may need to be considered.”

Cllr Jones said: “After last week’s executive board, clips of the council’s own webcast were shared on Facebook as we as Plaid Cymru councillors were keen to ensure as many people as possible were able to see the decision-making process around the budget proposals.

“These have been viewed by more than 10,000 people to date and it has provoked a healthy debate about the budget proposals.

“We believe the webcasting of council meetings is a positive development to enable people who cannot attend the daytime meetings to see how our council carries out its business.

“On Tuesday, an email was sent to all councillors reminding them webcasts should not be shared without permission.

“We’re now waiting to hear whether we have been granted that permission, but to stop democratically elected councillors from sharing webcasts of open meetings is stifling debate.”

He continued: “A five-minute clip has been viewed by thousands of people, whereas a three-hour meeting would have been viewed by a few hundred.

“We will also seek to change the rules to allow the public to share open democratic debate as widely as possible.

“We have to end the culture of secrecy within this council, which had to be challenged on other aspects of social media in the past and now accepts them as standard.”

Cllr Harper told the Leader: “It is encouraged at Westminster and in the Assembly that MPs and AMs share even selected videos to encourage engagement.

“It is just disappointing to be told we could face enforcement action – it is all about transparency and openness.”

A spokesman for Wrexham Council said: “We have no objection for links to be disseminated to any footage from webcasts on our main webcasting site; either to whole meetings, individual items or discussion or comments by individual members, and the suite on our webcasting site allows for this.

“We want as many people as possible to access the webcast – both live and recorded – and follow meetings for themselves.

“However, as all webcast footage remains under the copyright of Wrexham Council, we reserve the right to be asked for permission when anyone – a member of the public, council member or otherwise – wishes to download or edit webcast footage, as this can be presented without any wider context; whereas someone accessing webcast footage via our site may watch the meeting or individual items in their entirety.”