Senior councillors have written to the government urging them to extend the option to hold virtual meetings past May.
Council leader Phélim Mac Cafferty, opposition leader Nancy Platts and Conservative Group leader Steve Bell have sent a joint letter to Robert Jenrick, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Powers given to councils last April because of the Covid-19 pandemic, allowing them to meet and make decisions virtually, are due to expire on 7 May.
The three group leaders are calling for local authorities to be given the option of holding meetings in person, virtually or have a hybrid arrangement.
Councillor Mac Cafferty said: “At the moment it’s difficult to see a scenario where it will be safe to hold in-person council meetings in late spring or early summer.
“Covid-19 will not have disappeared by May and reverting back to the old way of holding meetings too soon puts the public, staff and councillors at unnecessary risk.
“Virtual meetings give us greater flexibility and removes the need for unnecessary travel, something we should all be looking to do if we’re to reduce toxic emissions in the city.
“In a digital age where remote working is fast becoming the norm, forcing in-person attendance would be a backward step.”
Virtual council meetings hit the headlines last week when a recording of a rowdy meeting of the Handforth Parish Council went virtual and made a star out of its acting clerk Jackie Weaver.
In Brighton, Councillor Carmen Appich stood down from her role as equalities chair in November after it was revealed she had called fellow councillor Kate Knight a bitch when she thought she was on mute during a housing panel meeting held over Zoom.
And a full council meeting had to be abandoned last year because of technical glitches.
this is an attack on local democracy dressed-up as a COVID precaution and trivial reduction of toxic emissions in the city.
The lockdown is set to continue for the rest of the year, at the very least. For one thing, the time it will take to administer the second vaccination (most are yet to have the first one, splendid though the way the NHS is managing this); the matter of those arriving from abroad (which should have been a priority a year ago); and the cunning virus’s penchant for mutating. Local government is, rightly, preparing for a long stretch.
Re the emissions – they are all urging us to cycle or walk, even if we can’t, so assuming that all councillors could or would do this in the dubious cycle lanes and on icy pavements, as they preach constantly to us, where are the emissions? If they’re not doing it, then they should shut up, frankly. Roy is right – we are talking very trivial emissions if they are doing what they preach, and even if they aren’t.
The Zoom meetings apparently don’t always work that well – somebody forgot to mute on one occasion and caused a slight fracas and then the feed went down because of ‘technical issues’, so this system is not exactly satisfactory.
Christopher’s negative and pessimistic opinion on lockdown continuing for the rest of the year is not helpful either, although we all know – he’s said so – that he is fit enough to cycle, so can at least get out and about, which a lot of people can’t do at all. We could all do with a considered, intelligent and measured amount of optimism and positivity, I think.
My comment is not pessimistic; it is realistic. This is why local government is preparing for lockdown to last the rest of the year.Last year’s fatuous “positivity” of lifting lockdowns exacerbated a situation which was atrociously handled from the start: that keeping pubs open but telling people not to go in them, for example. A positive aspect of all this is that people are realizing that they do not need to work all hours to buy things they do not need. And wasting life on travelling long distances to work.
After all, why bother discussing what residents clamour for?
So, no discussions on clean streets, graffiti scrubbed, drunks and druggies moved on.
No, nuclear weapons and bike lanes are all these amateurs want to talk about.
Christopher.
I repeat that your negative and pessimistic comments are not at all helpful, and are actually distressing, to those of us who are really struggling very badly in the lockdown situation. Think of others much worse off than yourself and, hopefully, just shut up.
Thank you!
I am of course sorry to hear that you are stuggling, as are all of us. The fact is that we have to face up to the long-term aspect of all this if we are to get safely through it. Otherwise the snake takes us back to Square 1. An upside of it all is to enjoy books, music. And I hope that you are able to do so.