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Council says sorry after reporter refused access to meeting due to ‘Covid’

Robert Firth MylondonA council has apologised after denying a reporter access to a meeting due to “Covid”.

MyLondon local democracy reporter Robert Firth was refused the right to attend the meeting of Southwark Council’s cabinet, instead having to watch it elsewhere in the same building via an online stream.

The location of the meeting had been changed to a “tiny room” with “no notice”, according to Robert, who shared his disappointment in a thread on Twitter.

The council has since said sorry to him over the incident, clarifying he is “always welcome to attend our meetings”.

Robert, pictured, posted on Twitter about his experience during last week’s meeting.

He wrote: “Staff were helpful and tried their best to accommodate, particularly Maria Lugangira – thanks. But on an organisational level this was a complete shambles.

“I can’t stress enough how obstructionary the experience was. I was able to stand my ground and demand a room with a plug socket to watch the stream.

“I knew how to access the stream. But you can’t expect members of the public to have that level of confidence and knowledge. I would expect councils to make every effort to make their meetings as open and accessible as possible and frankly this didn’t happen today.

Speaking to HTFP, Robert added: “Councils have a legal and democratic duty to make their meetings open to members of the public and journalists.

“It was disappointing to see Covid leveraged as an excuse not to be allowed to sit in on the Southwark cabinet meeting on 18 July, especially when councillors and officers were sat inches away from each other in a tiny room.

“Southwark Council has since apologised and I accept this was a one-off genuine mistake caused by what I consider to be poor organisation. In the end I was allowed to watch the meeting through a live stream on the Youtube channel in a nearby room.

“Regardless, it should never be so difficult for journalists or members of the public to attend council meetings. I look forward to attending meetings in the future with the usual ease.”

The decision to change the venue was made late on the day before it was due to take place, with council guidance encouraging people to avoid travelling to the office due to the hot weather.

The council’s principal media officer Catherine Simonds said in an explanation and apology to Robert: “In terms of Covid, cabinet members have decided to take some light precautions to help keep people safe, and for the public to feel confident attending meetings.

“Many of our residents might be older or vulnerable and should feel they can come safely to our public meetings if it is practically possible, and we’ll do all we can to make it so.

“The light measures include mask-wearing and sticking to the meeting room capacities and not overcrowding them.

“This is generally a safer option for building use regardless of Covid. It was also a very hot day and overfilling meeting rooms would be very unpleasant for all concerned.

“In this case, it was a small room with the right technology to do the online bit at short notice, but with a limited capacity so not everyone could fit in safely – not ideal and not as accessible as we would normally aim for.”