PARISH council chairman Helen Kirsopp has resigned because of a change in the law allowing anyone to digitally record and film public meetings.

Helen stood down from Barnton Parish Council as its chairman and a councillor, stating she did not “wish to be broadcast to the world”.

Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles signed a Parliamentary order last month allowing the press and public to film and digitally report from all public meetings of local government bodies.

The order will allow the use of filming, audio-recording, blogging and tweeting to report the proceedings of meetings.

Helen said she was sad to be resigning, but felt the change in the law represented “a huge invasion of privacy”.

“My web presence should be as much under my own control as possible, and I have taken every step I can to maintain the limited profile I want for myself,” she told fellow councillors.

“I have served my community for 10 years, have done nothing I am ashamed of and have proposed and supported other measures of increased transparency to the people of the parish – but this is a step too far.

“The potential for a malicious person to cause mischief is now far more likely, and I believe it will make councillors and clerks much more vulnerable to people of a vituperative disposition.”

The change in the law would stifle debate and encourage decision-making and discussion behind the scenes, she warned.

“People will be more afraid of speaking their mind in case they will be deemed to say something inappropriate because the record of their actions will be indelibly stamped upon the world,” she said.

She wished all the best in looking after the interests of the community to those councillors who felt comfortable with the new ruling.

Parish council clerk Phillip Evoy said it was important the council had its own recording device so it had a full record of meetings, and he was looking at buying equipment using a hard drive.

Council’s vice-chairman Dilys Hooper has taken on the role of chairman until the election in May 2015 of a new chairman.