In a bizarre twist at a Saffron Walden Town Council Planning and Road Traffic Committee meeting, Leader Paul Gadd [Residents 4 Utllesford] refused to allow microphones to be used to record proceedings.  Perhaps a wax cylinder and needle was what he had in mind when local company; Audiominutes was asked to make a free recording of tonight’s meeting. “I had gone to some trouble to organise a set of microphones at the last minute for Lisa Courtney of SWTC, only to be told that, although recording had been agreed, the council would need to discuss and vote on the matter of the use of microphones for recording. If that’s an indication of the level of debate at Town Council meetings then, in my opinion, Saffron Walden residents have quite a lot to be concerned about” said Antony Redfern from Audiominutes.

According to Wikipedia, use of the Phonograph cylinder died out around 100 years ago, so finding a local contractor to meet R4U needs might be a challenge!

With Audiominutes, councils can use a checksum to prove that audio files are a digitally ‘bit perfect’ copy of the original and have therefore, not been edited; it will be interesting to see how this level of assurance is achieved in wax.

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