Ernie Clark. Hilperton Division, Wiltshire Council.

Wiltshire Council seems to dislike criticism.

It would seem that Wiltshire Council wants to bar councillors from making statements critical of the council.

A proposed review of the council's constitution states "Public criticism of the council ... is not acceptable. There are clear codes of conduct for members and officers within the council's constitution."

It is also being mooted that reporters attending council meetings will be restricted. They will be required to "make themselves known to the meeting administrator who will ... have the press member's name and organisation announced at the start of the meeting. This will allow members, officers and the public to be aware the press are present and which media organisation they represent." I'm still trying to work out what this will achieve.

The press will be in a designated area and not allowed to do audio or video recording or take photographs without permission.

In the brave new World of freedom of speech, Wiltshire seems to be in the van. To my knowledge, no other council has tried to impose such stringent rules on the media and gag its own councillors.

I guess the next move will be to try and ban councillors from having their own web site ...