Mayor Damien Egan has said he did not know Lewisham Council were paying £26,330 for a meeting webcast service it was not using, despite holding the communications portfolio.

Lewisham was in a 12-month contract with provider Public-I to stream council meetings as they happen, which expired in May.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service revealed in February the council wasn’t using the service.

Mr Egan’s revelations followed calls from Cllr Alan Hall for a mayor’s questions and answer session at an overview and scrutiny committee to be streamed online.

At the meeting Mr Egan gave an update on the the council’s progress on issues like housing and fielded questions from councillors.

He also emphasised the importance of communicating with residents about austerity and the council’s decision making.

But Mr Hall asked why the webcasting service was not being used.

He said: “I agree with Damien that austerity now is our number one issue…he also said residents need to know how we make decisions.

“So my question is why are we not webcasting this meeting? Especially when we have a contract worth £26,330 per year with Public-I who give us that little box over there for webcasting meetings.

“This also is an equalities issue. It should be [there for] residents who can’t get in, this building is not particularly accessible, [and] there are those with childcare responsibilities, the elderly, and other residents, people who have to go to work…so I think that we should be webcasting.

“So perhaps the mayor can explain what the £26k was used for?”

Mr Egan said he had not known the council had contracted the service, with officers now asked to negotiate extending the contract with Public-I.

He said: “When we found out that we had been paying and not using the services for webcasting we instructed officers to go out and extend that time.”

Lewisham would start using a webcast service before the end of the year, following recommendations from the council’s democracy review, he said.

A Lewisham Council spokeswoman previously said there were technical issues with the Public-I equipment, but confirmed the unused hours as part of the contract would be rolled forward.

“In light of the recent Local Democracy Review’s recommendation to proceed with webcasting, we have agreed with the contractor that any unused hours from the pilot phase will be rolled into future webcasting, which will commence once the trials have been successfully completed,” she said,

She said there was not a time set for when the trial with Public-I would finish, but said in February it was a year-long contract which began in May 2018.

Many other local authorities webcast their meetings, including Southwark, Greenwich, Croydon, and Tower Hamlets.