Hundreds of people watched a county council meeting after it was broadcast on a new webcam system.
Powys County Council, which is based in Llandrindod Wells, ran a webcam experiment at one of its meetings and was staggered by the results.
A meeting to debate the issue of wind farms in the region was broadcast live and watched by over 1,500 members of the public. A total of 948 of these views were live.
A spokesman for the council said the figures did not even take into account viewings that were made in the town’s libraries, the council buildings or where more than one person watched the meeting from the same computer.
Councillor Liam Fitzpatrick, cabinet member for change, communication and performance, said: “We can assume that the number of people who viewed the webcast is even higher, which is really encouraging for us as a council, as we seek to open up the democratic process and scrutiny to as many people as we can.
“Webcasting enables us to overcome some of the barriers presented to us by the huge travelling distances people in Powys are faced with.
“It’s greener and it’s cheaper, and that’s why we are seriously considering how we could use webcasting as a technology to open up the process to residents.”
The wind farm debate had been called to consider a recommendation from the all-party Tan 8 group, which was set up following a special public meeting held at Welshpool Livestock Market last June.