As reported by the News Media Association: In an open letter to Stapleford Parish Council, Cambridge News editor-in-chief of the News, David Bartlett said the council had held an emergency meeting and directed that participants were free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speakers, nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.
He said that this was “a shame and a disgrace” and he had considered withdrawing the reporting from the meeting which addressed the issue of travellers on the village recreation ground.
David wrote: “A key feature of democracy in the UK is that meetings should be open. That involves the media being given access to report on public meetings, and crucially being able to report who said what at those meetings. Those principles which are also enshrined in law.
He said Stapleford Parish Council had; "decreed that it would hold an emergency meeting under Chatham House rules - which mean participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.
"We fully appreciate that members of the local community may not want their name on the Cambridge News website or in our print edition, and indeed at the meeting would have been under no obligation to identify themselves at the meeting - but parish councillors are elected officials.
"The public have a right to know what is being said and done in their name. Just because emotions are running high does not mean that councillors should be hidden behind the cloak of anonymity.
"I did consider withdrawing our reporter from the meeting, but felt that despite the draconian rules applied by the council, that the public interest was better served by us reporting a censored version of the meeting. Only around 70 people were present and many many more will want to know what was discussed.
"Parish councils are often dismissed (wrongly) as talking shops of little importance. It is a shame and a disgrace that when the local community is looking for leadership, its parish council has decided that it does not want to be subject to scrutiny and would rather discard our precious democratic principles."
