By Alesha Capone
A Wyndham resident has called on the council to live stream its planning committee meetings in addition to the monthly ordinary meetings.
The council held a planning committee meeting last Tuesday night, which was open to the public but was not broadcast on social media like the council’s ordinary meetings.
Resident Lisa Heinrichs said she “was not happy” that the council’s planning meeting was not live streamed or broadcast online.
“They need to be able to live stream it to the broader community, especially considering we’re still under COVID-19 regulations,” she said.
“It’s excluding a lot of people in the community if they don’t live stream it.”
Ms Heinrichs said this included single parents who wanted to watch the council meeting but had no-one to look after their children, people without cars to travel to the council offices in Werribee, and people with a disability.
At last Tuesday’s meeting, a limited number of community members were allowed to sit in the council chamber, due to social distancing requirements.
There was also chairs set up in the foyer in case more people attended.
Ms Heinrichs said that at the start of this month, the council implemented its Community Engagement Policy, in which it committed to be more transparent and engage more with residents.
A Wyndham council spokesperson said the ordinary council meetings would continue to be live streamed, but that there were “no plans to live stream the planning committee meetings”.
The spokesperson said the planning meetings would remain open to the public, subject to COVID restrictions.
