Why did North Lanarkshire not harness technology to keep key meetings going?

Local Councillor Meghan Gallacher has questioned if Labour bosses at North Lanarkshire Council are carrying out any work to get council meetings up and running as soon as possible.

The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Councillor for Motherwell West, who is also her party’s group leader, has hit out after the council’s Twitter feed put up a video highlighting their plans to support town centres.

Councillor Gallacher, says that it is inexplicable that technology could not be in place to allow meetings to go ahead.

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Councillor Gallacher has asked council officials again to explain the reasoning why virtual meetings via programmes such as Zoom or Skype could not have been carried out, as has been done in many other local authorities across Scotland.

Councillor Gallacher said: “Social media can be an informative tool and North Lanarkshire’s Twitter feed is no exception, allowing residents to be informed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“However, it is another story entirely when we are now seeing videos of Labour politicians continually using the feed to promote their policies, without any chance of real scrutiny.

“It is quite incredible, that there is the technology out there to produce these videos, yet we haven’t even entertained the possibility of setting up council meetings virtually.

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“We’re going to have to wait until August to start up meetings again at a time when we need to be doing all we can to support our businesses, communities, schools and organisations.

“There needs to be an acceptance that many members have felt sidelined in recent months due to the failure to hold any meetings.”

Commenting, a spokesperson for NLC said: “We are planning to resume council meetings in August, starting with a meeting of the full council.

“Intensive work is being carried out to ensure that all members can fully participate and vote in a secure way.”

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