CHRISTCHURCH council bosses will decide whether to make their councillors internet sensations after a planning meeting went (almost) viral.

The planning committee's meeting racked up 328 views on YouTube and their channel has amassed 4 subscribers.

Christchurch Borough Council will now decide whether all committee meetings should be live streamed to YouTube.

The planning committee meeting was shown to be a successful test-run for live streaming and now a mini-consultation of council staff will take place.

Watch the planning committee's meeting on YouTube 

Following that consultation, a report will be put before the scrutiny committee and then full council, both in September, to decide whether or not councillors should become the next internet megastars.

The star of the show at the planning committee meeting was chair Cllr Lesley Dedman, who had a somewhat heated battle with Cllr David Jones throughout the evening.

Cllr Jones was unhappy with some of the decisions made by the chair, such as not to defer the decision on the controversial planning application for 875 homes at Roeshot Hill.

Cllr Dedman dealt with Cllr Jones firmly, assuring her place as the council's most popular internet star - for now at least.

After laughing off thoughts of internet stardom, Cllr Dedman said: "We thought this was a really good way to demonstrate how fair and unbiased Christchurch planning is and how it's run to the residents and it seemed to us that this was a really good meeting to start because it was a big development."

On the future of Christchurch council's live streaming, David McIntosh, Chief Executive, Christchurch and East Dorset Councils, said: “We decided to trial a live streaming service of Christchurch Borough Council’s Planning Committee last week. We are keen to engage with as many members of the public as we can and recognise that new technology and digital channels allow us to reach a wider audience.

“The trial was well received and feedback has been positive. As a result we are now looking at how the live streaming service can be implemented at public meetings across both Christchurch Borough Council and East Dorset District Council and are aiming to take a report to members of both councils in September to seek their approval.”

In other parts of the country, councils have already started live streaming their meetings. It is now down to the councillors to decide whether they want to be the next internet superstars.