A fringe party in Cumbria is offering to cover the cost of livestreaming council meetings for both unitary authorities.

Cumbria First said the livestreaming of all full council meetings at the two councils – Cumberland Council and Westmorland and Furness Council – needs to happen sooner rather than later to boost democracy.

The party believes that the full council meetings are less democratic without being streamed because they happen at 1pm, which makes it hard for working people to attend.

They hope the councils take them up on the offer as soon as possible.

The party claimed to have all the necessary equipment to record meetings and livestream them to YouTube, and upload them as individual videos with bullet points of what happened at the meetings also provided by the technology.

“Instead of having many local leaders close to home, we now have just two big councils trying to cover a huge area. That means meetings often happen far away, making it tough for many of us to be a part of important decisions that affect our lives,” a spokesperson from Cumbria First said.

They continued: “But here's the good news, we're living in a time where technology can help solve this problem.

“It can bring council meetings right to your fingertips, no matter where you are in Cumbria.

“You can see and hear what's going on just like you're there in the council room.

“That's where Cumbria First comes in, we care a lot about Cumbria and making sure democracy works for everyone.

“We want to help fix the problem of a disconnected democracy by offering our local councils, Cumberland Council and Westmorland and Furness Council, a special gift – technology that makes it easy to be part of local democracy putting people in the council meetings delivering and open and transparent local government for the communities across Cumbria.

“And guess what? We're not charging a penny for it!”

A spokesperson from Cumberland Council said Cumbria First's streaming proposal is due to be discussed at the next full council meeting next week, September 26.