THE possibility of webcast council meetings is to be decided later in the year by a North-East authority.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council is considering broadcasting its meetings live on the Internet.

The council chamber and main meeting room would be rigged up with microphones and other broadcasting equipment to allow its meetings to be beamed into homes.

It is a step which many other local authorities are also considering as a way of keeping up with 21st Century technology.

Yesterday, Redcar and Cleveland decided it wanted to improve its website and see how other authorities get on with the concept before it committed itself.

Councillor David Walsh, leader of the authority, told the council executive: "We are moving into a very different world in terms of communication and it is quite clear that over the coming years this is a very important part of people's lives. Most people think a computer is a middle class toy, and it isn't."

But he remained realistic about the likely demand for the service. "It is not going to be like the World Cup Final. People will not rush home to look at our corporate governance decisions, but they could tune in for controversial planning applications.

"I find it fascinating, but I think we should walk before we can run, and we need to get our website up properly."