Gloucestershire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Martin Surl will ask senior officers to explain the constabulary’s handling of last year’s pilot badger cull.

Members of the public will be able to see the outcome from the comfort of their own homes, or other locations that provide access to the internet.

For although the special scrutiny meeting will not be directly open to the public, it is being held in the council chamber at Stroud District Council from 6pm on Monday, May 12 and is being streamed live on-line via a web link.

Chief Constable Suzette Davenport and other senior officers who had key roles in Operation Themis, the code name given to their strategy for policing the cull, will be among those answering questions.

Mr Surl said: “Now that the dust has settled and the police are preparing for the next phase of the cull I think the time is right to raise some of the issues arising from last year.

“Having spoken to all sides – before, during and after the event – it is clear they believe the police have questions to answer.

"My own view is that very few people - pro-cull lobbyists, campaigners, activists and sympathisers on either side of the argument – rarely understood the role of the police and we also need to get to the bottom of that before phase two of the cull begins later in the year.

“One of the important aspects of my job is to hold the police to account. My aim is to be as open and transparent as possible and this is the best way of achieving that.”

To watch the meeting live go to http://www.strouddc.public-i.tv/core/.