POLITICIANS in Wrexham look set to approve new guidance to allow clips of their meetings to be broadcast on social media and other platforms.

However, the use of footage from the Wrexham Council webcasts for satirical purposes would be banned under the protocol.

The rules are similar to those which have existed in the Houses of Parliament since regular broadcasting began in 1989.

The authority is also continuing to look at the possibility of archiving videos of committee meetings on YouTube.

Cllr Malcolm King, who chairs the democratic services committee, said it was hoped the changes would enable greater access to meetings for members of the public.

In a report he said: “The webcasting of council meetings improves access by

members of the public to council meetings by enabling them to follow proceedings without having to attend in person.

“The proposed revised protocol takes into account the ICT & Digital Strategy, as well as elements of good practice from other webcasting.

“In particular,  in order to ensure the principles of open data and promoting democracy, changes have been made to the protocol to set out terms of use for council webcasts.

“This includes the use of clips from webcasts, what the material cannot be used for and when we can request that material is removed.

“The potential inappropriate use of webcasts clips is dealt with in the protocol by retaining copyright of the material and the ability to request irretrievable deletion.”

In the past members of the Plaid Cymru group of councillors were threatened with enforcement action for sharing footage of meetings on Facebook.

The council advised clips should not be presented without any wider context.

Under the new protocol it warns that videos should not be shown in a ‘misleading context’ nor in a way that could bring the council into disrepute.

Footage also cannot be used for advertising or financial gain and is restricted from being published on sites promoting illegal activity or hatred.

The policy states: “You may edit the content of downloaded clips into different formats to enable viewing and you may take steps to improve the accessibility of material.

“Material must not be adapted, altered or manipulated in any other way.

“Any downloading, reproduction and or use of council copyright protected material is subject to the material being reproduced accurately.”

The proposals will be considered at a full council meeting next week.