SOUTH Ayrshire Council is set to reduce public access to a number of its committees as part of cash-saving measures.

Councillors will be asked to agree proposals that would cut the number of meetings people can watch online, saving £915 on the current £45,000 contract.

The introduction of webcasting and video archives was originally a way for the council to meet its obligation to allow public access to meetings during the pandemic.

But it was also welcomed for allowing greater scrutiny of the council, with people from all over the authority able to watch meetings at home rather than being forced to travel – in some cases with a round trip of up to 70 miles – to attend a meeting in Ayr.

On its website South Ayrshire Council states: “We are committed to providing residents with an open and accessible decision-making process. Council meetings where decisions are made will be webcast.

“You will now be able to see how decisions which affect you or your community are reached, without having to attend in person.”

A report to the full council this week argues that webcasting was introduced as a way to give access to the public during the Covid pandemic, although other authorities such as North Ayrshire Council had already introduced the system before the outbreak.

It originally allowed the public to watch the full council, the then leadership panel (now cabinet) and planning meetings. This was expanded to include almost all committees.

On average 51 people watched the full council live, with an average of 91 viewing the recorded archive.

The audit and governance, licensing board and local review body each had an average of eight live viewers and between 21 and 16 views in the archive.

While the report does not compare the figures directly, the on-line attendances are considerably higher than those in-person.

The current webcasting contract ends next year, with officers reviewing the scheme.

The report states: “It was recognised that the situation regarding public access to meetings had fundamentally changed since June/October 2021 as in-person access to meetings had been re-instated.

“As a result, it was proposed that the number of meetings that are live webcast should be reviewed.

“Having reviewed the figures, it is proposed that those meetings to be live webcast will be South Ayrshire Council, cabinet, regulatory panel (planning) and audit and governance panel (chief scrutiny panel).

“It is expected that the combination of the reduction in live webcast hours (from 100 per annum to 78), and archive period (24 months to 12 months) would realise a small saving.”

The council will consider the report on Thursday, October 10.