“Can you please speak up?”

The poor sound quality in a town council chamber was a hot topic of debate during a recent meeting.

One of the items on the agenda at Ludlow Town Council’s meeting at The Guildhall last Monday (June 23) was to investigate the installation of microphones and speakers to support both in-room audio amplification and future live streaming.

These improvements, said the council, would aim to enhance accessibility, ensure clarity during meetings, and allow real-time participation for those watching online.

At the start of the meeting, Sebastian Bowen told members that the non-existent sound system ‘is totally inadequate’.

“Even the councillors themselves sometimes find difficulty in hearing each other, let alone the poor members of the public who are actually paying for all of this to go on,” said Mr Bowen.

“I do ask you, very sincerely, to provide a decent sound system so they can all hear properly.”

The issue came to the fore within minutes of Mr Bowen speaking, with Councillor Viv Parry telling the Mayor, Councillor Di Lyle, that she couldn’t hear her. Ironically, later in the meeting, Cllr Lyle told Cllr Parry that she wasn’t able to hear what she had said.

Other councillors were also told to speak up, including Councillor Pete Addis, Councillor Matthew Taylor and Councillor Ian Scott Bell.

When it came to a vote, members agreed for the council to look into installing microphones and speakers, with a final report to be presented at July’s meeting. It was also asked if Artificial Intelligence (AI) could be used to take council minutes.

“It’s normally produced 10 minutes after a meeting, so we ‘re not spending days writing minutes,” said Councillor James Hepworth.
However, the majority of councillors were not in favour.

“Technology is wonderful when it works, but if it doesn’t for any reason then we will go back to handwriting anyway,” said Councillor Stacey Harris.

“Even with the best AI, it can’t always pick up local accents and things like that.”

Coun Parry added: “You’re also taking away someone’s wage because the person taking the minutes is paid to do that.”