Surrey County Council will webcast a meeting live on the internet for the first time in a bid to get more people involved in local democracy.

Newly installed cameras will capture the action during a full council meeting at County Hall on Tuesday, 9 February, so people can follow the events on the web.

People will be able to watch the meeting live on their computers or wait and see a recorded version which will be available to view within 24 hours.

Council leader Dr Andrew Povey gave a commitment to introduce webcasting in his leader's speech last October.

Dr Povey said: "I am committed to increasing openness and transparency and webcasting is an ideal way of doing this while getting more people involved in the workings of the council. We would expect to have between 15 and 20 residents in the public gallery at full council meetings but people have busy lives and most don't have time to come to County Hall."

Showing meetings on the internet will also allow people with disabilities who may find it difficult travelling to County Hall to view what goes on.

Webcasts will start with full council meetings but there are plans to extend this to include Cabinet and Planning and Regulatory Committee meetings in the coming months.

People can view the action by logging onto www.surreycc.gov.uk and clicking on 'Your Council', then 'Audio and Video', then 'Webcasts'.

The webcast of the full council meeting will take place at 10.30am on Tuesday. Items on the agenda include setting the council's budget and council tax for the next financial year, members' question time and reports from Surrey Police Authority and the Cabinet.