PEOPLE wanting to film council meetings could be asked to abide by new rules from today.

A law, passed last summer, enshrined the right of the public and press to film, tweet and blog from public meetings at town and city halls across the country.

But in the past few months, there have been angry exchanges between councillors and campaigners about how footage of planning meetings has appeared on sites like YouTube.

Now Bradford Council is to meet today to set its ground-rules for anyone wanting to record its meetings.

The draft rules say anyone wanting to film should tell the Council in advance, that filming should not be "disruptive or distracting", and also bans the filming of children or vulnerable adults at meetings.

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The rules also say any footage should appear in context, and that the Council would take action against any "inappropriate and misleading editing" that appears online.

The matter will be discussed at a meeting of the full council at City Hall today.

Leader of the Labour-controlled Council, Councillor David Green, said the draft rules were in line with the new law.

He said before the change in the law, people had been allowed to film Bradford Council meetings on request and he couldn't "recall a time when that has been refused".

He said: "Clearly there are some members who have concerns about the way filming might be edited, but that is always the case with any media coverage, be it formal or social media. That has always been the risk."

The leader of the opposition Conservative group, Councillor Simon Cooke, said the authority should now go further and broadcast its meetings online, like Kirklees Council does.

He said: "I think that is very important, because one of the criticisms of filming is that if you film a meeting, you can edit it and can play silly games with it, so to speak, as is their right.

"My view is if the council films and broadcasts its own stuff, there is less need for people to come and film it themselves."

Cllr Green said this idea was being looked into, cost permitting, as the Green group had suggested it in the past.

Liberal Democrat leader, Councillor Jeanette Sunderland, said her group would not be supporting the new rules, as they were not clear about what rights people had if they were watching a council meeting but did not want to appear on film.