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Water banned amid council fears

Friday, 4 October 2019 08:46

By Daniel Clark, Local Democracy Reporting Service

The public and press weren't allowed to bring any into a meeting

Watergate II erupted at Thursday’s Devon County Council meeting after members of the public and the press were banned from bringing water into the meeting.

Anyone wishing to bring refreshments into the council chamber were told they had to leave them with two security guards outside the building.

When asked why, Daniel Clark, local democracy reporter for Devon, was told  by the security guards outside County Hall that it was because of concerns that water could be thrown at the elected councillors.

But when asked for an official comment, a spokesman for Devon County Council made no mention of the safety fears reason given by security guards.

They said: “We welcome people attending our public meetings, but it’s long been our policy not to allow refreshments to be taken into the council chamber.”

At no stage during the last three years has any member of the press been told they are unable to bring water into a meeting with them, and there was jugs of water and glasses provided to the members of the press and public once inside the building.

One member of the press said:  “Either the policy is new and the statement is wrong or it has been in place for years and their security has not been doing their job at any stage in that time to stop water me brought into meetings, as I have been doing so for years.”

Members of the council sit at least three rows away from the public and press benches.

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