New council offices branded a ‘waste of money’

Richard Evans, Local Democracy Reporter 

A council’s new chamber is continuing to experience technical problems at online meetings – with councillors raising concerns over equipment installed as part of the move.

Since Coney County Council relocating to the in Coed Pella offices from Bodlondeb last spring, meetings have been affected by microphone faults, poor sound quality, translation issues, and problems with online connectivity.

Monday’s finance overview and scrutiny committee hybrid meeting was delayed after more issues getting councillors connected.

The “live” YouTube stream was also delayed until later on Monday for those wanting to watch the debate.

Speaking at the meeting, chairwoman Cllr Cheryl Carlisle appeared annoyed, saying: “There were no engineers available to take the call.”

She went on to say there “isn’t the requirement for it to be recorded”, calling the problems “frustrating”.

After the meeting, Cllr David Carr complained to the local democracy reporting service about the issues, questioning the council’s decision to involve external management consultants to manage the technology.

Cllr Carr said that during earlier discussions at Bodlondeb, members had warned against bringing in contractors, suggesting the council’s IT team should be able to run the online meeting and translation service themselves.

The Old Colwyn councillor claimed councillors attending meetings remotely have been unable to hear translation services and experienced poor sound quality.

“We’ve got IT people who work for the council. We’ve got senior managers who work for the council who are very well paid,” said Cllr Carr.

“We didn’t need to get outside people in. We got the outside people in, and the equipment isn’t working. They are on retainers.

“The sound’s terrible. There was a delay on Monday. The last finance and resources scrutiny meeting was delayed for nearly an hour. Yesterday, whoever they rang – the engineer – wasn’t available.”

He added: “The chair said they rang the engineer, and he wasn’t available. It’s a complete waste of money.” Conwy County Council was contacted for a comment.