Hyperlocal bloggers to get right to council meetings – by law

Following on from our previous posts on the right to attend, report and record local council meetings, the Department for Communities and Local Government has announced that it will be changing the law to further open up council meetings.

In particular, the new regulations, which come into effect September 10, will reduce the permitted reasons for holding meetings behind closed doors and has widened the definition of media to cover “organisations that… provide news to the public by means of the internet”, thus including hyperlocal blogs.

Will Perrin at TalkAboutLocal has a good summary of some of the other issues in the announcement, but this is important news for hyperlocal bloggers, particularly those that have faced obstruction and restrictions from their local councils.