Yesterday's live streamed council meeting started off according to plan, or according to the script anyway. For those unaccustomed to these meetings, the lengthy intro about fire alarms (note; members of the public in the gallery stay where you are, everyone else leave by the nearest exit) and the great emphasis on declarations of interest are entirely new and clearly for the benefit of the cameras.
The meeting has been archived and you can watch it yourself. It was all held together (just about), until almost the bitter end, when things began to unravel. It was at that point I suspect, that several of those present wondered how it was that they ever agreed to webcasting....
The first two hours or so were taken up with Plaid's Motion to make urgent representations to the Welsh Government over planning policy and the Welsh Language and how there should be a statutory consultation when large residential applications are put forward.
The LDP was discussed at length (after several councillors made declarations that they had put forward plots of land to it) and eventually the meeting moved on to the sale of 86 parcels of land, approved at the last Exec Board meeting.
The subsequent loss of play areas and green space and the failure of Exec Members to listen to residents was brought up but Council Leader Kevin Madge declared that they needed the money and couldn't afford to cut the grass.
For the details, you can watch it yourself.
Just when it appeared they were home and dry, Cllr Darren Price (Plaid) dropped the bombshell and asked about the email snooping. Who had requested that this was done, and why? Why was the councillor concerned never told? Was this common practice? He demanded a full inquiry into the matter and the full support of the leader Kevin Madge (who went very quiet).
Unfortunately for some, there didn't appear to be any way to call 'cut!'.
To see how this all panned out, and if you've got a spare 10 minutes, go over to the webcast, it's 2 hours 47 mins in or click on 02:47:13 on the right hand side of the page;
http://www.carmarthenshire.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/106148 .
When you listen to the initial response to Cllr Price, please note that the disclosure stage of the legal case referred to was in Autumn 2012, but the email in question was actually 'tracked' in September 2011.
In addition, there's a surprising claim about covert surveillance from Cllr Bill Thomas, who, after initially being told to shut up, eventually gets his word in.
The meeting has been archived and you can watch it yourself. It was all held together (just about), until almost the bitter end, when things began to unravel. It was at that point I suspect, that several of those present wondered how it was that they ever agreed to webcasting....
The first two hours or so were taken up with Plaid's Motion to make urgent representations to the Welsh Government over planning policy and the Welsh Language and how there should be a statutory consultation when large residential applications are put forward.
The LDP was discussed at length (after several councillors made declarations that they had put forward plots of land to it) and eventually the meeting moved on to the sale of 86 parcels of land, approved at the last Exec Board meeting.
The subsequent loss of play areas and green space and the failure of Exec Members to listen to residents was brought up but Council Leader Kevin Madge declared that they needed the money and couldn't afford to cut the grass.
For the details, you can watch it yourself.
Just when it appeared they were home and dry, Cllr Darren Price (Plaid) dropped the bombshell and asked about the email snooping. Who had requested that this was done, and why? Why was the councillor concerned never told? Was this common practice? He demanded a full inquiry into the matter and the full support of the leader Kevin Madge (who went very quiet).
Unfortunately for some, there didn't appear to be any way to call 'cut!'.
To see how this all panned out, and if you've got a spare 10 minutes, go over to the webcast, it's 2 hours 47 mins in or click on 02:47:13 on the right hand side of the page;
http://www.carmarthenshire.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/106148 .
When you listen to the initial response to Cllr Price, please note that the disclosure stage of the legal case referred to was in Autumn 2012, but the email in question was actually 'tracked' in September 2011.
In addition, there's a surprising claim about covert surveillance from Cllr Bill Thomas, who, after initially being told to shut up, eventually gets his word in.