PEOPLE trying to film Tuesday’s Barnet Council meeting will be asked to stop, despite recent advice from a Government minister.

Anti-cuts activist Vicky Morris had called for members of the public to film the meeting, at which councillors will vote on this year’s budget plans.

Her call came after local government minister Bob Neil asked councillors to allow bloggers and journalists to be allowed to tweet and film sections of meeting to make them "more transparent".

But council leader Lynne Hillan says anyone caught filming on Tuesday will be asked to leave the public gallery.

She told the Times Series: “The current advice according to the constitution does not allow filming in the council chamber.

“I’ve not had a chance to have discussions about it with any of our group.

“Can you imagine how chaotic it would be if the whole public gallery was trying to film it?”

The letter sent out by Mr Neil urges councillors to look at the role of bloggers and “citizen journalists" in local accountability.

He said: “ Bloggers, tweeters, residents with their own websites and users of Facebook and YouTube are increasingly a part of the modern world, blurring the lines between professional journalists and the public.

“There are recent stories about people being ejected from council meetings for blogging, tweeting or filming.

“This potentially is at odds with the fundamentals of democracy and I want to encourage all councils to take a welcoming approach to those who want to bring local news stories to a wider audience.”

However, Cllr Hillan said: “The only thing we will do is consider responsible media requests, and they are the only thing we would allow at this stage. If we had a request, I would expect an officer to approach me about it.

“I do not think we would consider a request from bloggers. Only respectable media would be considered.”