Lewisham Council will trial webcasting its meetings before the end of the year, after already forking out £26k for a meeting broadcast it has only used once.

Lewisham was in a 12-month contract worth £26,330 with provider Public-I to stream council meetings as they happen, with the clips available online afterwards, but the contract expired last month.

Now Lewisham is expected to trial webcasting in the next four to nine months, following recommendations from the local democracy review.

A group of eight councillors made 57 recommendations to enhance transparency, openness and increase public involvement in council decisions, agreed by the mayor and cabinet.

This included making it easier to find out about council decisions including “exploring a range of methods such as webcasting, pre and post meeting ‘vox pops’ and an increased use of Twitter and social media,” according to the report.

This came after a council spokesperson said technical issues had stopped the council using of the Public-I system.

They said the gear leased from Public-I did not work with the council’s microphone system.

But the Local Democracy Reporting Service also understands the council’s contract with Public-I includes an immediate response to any technical issues.

An allocation of £10,000 has been earmarked from corporate resources to cover any expenses from the local democracy review.

The 57 recommendations have been graded to be achievable in either up to three months, between four and nine months or more than nine months.

This also follows a unanimously-passed Green Party motion to webcast Lewisham Council meetings in 2010.

The motion called on the then-Mayor of Lewisham, Sir Steve Bullock, to investigate costs and set out a timetable for putting meetings online.

The motion highlighted that access to meetings was an equalities issue, with certain groups, including those with disabilities less able to attend meetings.