Questions about town and parish councils
Follow Councillor Q&A on X/Twitter

Follow us on X/Twitter

0 votes
Hi,

I have recently become a Councillor. Our council has resolved to publish audio recordings of meetings to be made available on the Council website.

Our IT provider has said that they cannot host the files as it will take up space and bandwidth which has cost implications. They suggest using a free audio platform to host the files.

Is there anyone here whose council publishes audio recordings of meetings and if so where are the files hosted?

Thanks
by (190 points)

5 Answers

0 votes
My own council doesn't do this but I do know of several that upload their meeting recordings to you tube or facebook.  I do understand the website limitations, however, as we struggle to load documents over a certain size.
by (21.5k points)
+1 vote
There is nothing stopping the council purchasing their own web space on a server and £330-£400 ( or less) can buy you unlimited server space to host what you want
by (28.6k points)
0 votes

There's no reason you couldn't set up a YouTube channel and store all the recordings there. Our local Borough Council does this with both video meetings and audio podcasts. It's set up well with different playlists for the different types of recordings. (https://www.youtube.com/@BasildonCouncil)

ago by (500 points)
I've taken a look at this but it is all video which is what youtube is designed for.
0 votes
Audio recordings could be converted to 120 MBs mono mp3 files which might take under 100 Mb of storage per meeting or about 1Gb per year if you meet approx monthly.  You could probably buy 1Tb cloud storage for £100 a year to store them on if you council doesn't have it's own data server.
ago by (35.8k points)
+1 vote
ago by (24.2k points)
I have uploaded a test file to soundcloud.

Can you share a link to a parish council website that uses souncloud?

Thanks

Welcome to Town & Parish Councillor Q&A, where you can ask questions and receive answers from other members of the community. All genuine questions and answers are welcome. Follow us on Twitter to see the latest questions as they are asked - click on the image button above or follow @TownCouncilQA. Posts from new members may be delayed as we are unfortunately obliged to check each one for spam. Spammers will be blacklisted.

You may find the following links useful:

We have a privacy policy and a cookie policy.

Clares Cushions logo Peacock cushion

Clare's Cushions creates beautiful hand made cushions and home accessories from gorgeous comtemporary fabrics. We have a fantastic selection of prints including Sophie Allport and Orla Kiely designs and most covers can be ordered either alone or with a cushion inner. Buying new cushions is an affordable and effective way to update your home interior, they're also a great gift idea. Visit our site now

3,099 questions
6,120 answers
8,550 comments
10,747 users
Google Analytics Alternative