A CAMERAMAN from Pembs.TV was told he was not permitted to film a Planning Committee visit to Milford Haven on Wednesday (Jan 14).
Mark Evans, a news cameraman and documentary maker for many years, told The Pembrokeshire Herald: “I was in a public place, filming councillors representing a public body, when one councillor took exception to being filmed and tried to push me away. He claimed that I was not entitled to film.
At the end of last year, Pembrokeshire County Council voted to allow the video and audio recording of all committee meetings and meetings of the full Council, unless the meeting is discussing commercially sensitive or other private and confidential information. Even then, advice on exclusion of the media and public has to be tendered and voted upon.
A Council spokesman told The Herald, however, that site visits are an exception to this rule: “Planning site inspections are not public meetings and, as such, the public and press are not notified.
“The majority of site inspections take place on private land. In such cases the Council contacts the landowner beforehand as a master of courtesy to enable the inspection to be carried out.”
After visiting the Manchester Street car park, councillors travelled to Milford Docks, where they refused to discuss concerns about the Port Authority’s plans for redevelopment with members of the public.
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