Councillors worry about virtual future after law ends
COUNCILLORS have started expressing concerns over the legal ability to hold virtual meetings ahead of Government legislation allowing them to take place being due to end next month.
Ashbourne Town Council and Derbyshire Dales
District Council have each been discussing the future of holding remote public meetings, which are currently conducted over the Zoom video-conferencing platform. Officially, this practice should end by Friday, May 7.
With no word on whether the Government will extend its legislation allowing virtual meetings to take place, councillors have started to look into ways they could safely return to physical meetings in their respective town halls.
Ashbourne Town Council has been designing a table and seating layout in its upstairs ballroom, but problems are being encountered in terms of space for the public and press, and the room’s complex acoustics.
Derbyshire Dales District Councillors have approved that authority be delegated to officers – the chief executive and directors – to take decisions reserved to the council and committees until meetings can safely resume in person at Matlock Town Hall.
Committee chairs, vicechairs, political group leaders and, where appropriate, ward members, will be consulted before decisions are made.
The district council is also supporting legal action to preserve the right of local authorities and town councils to continue to make decisions via virtual meetings.
Last week, district councillors agreed to donate £300 towards High Court action by Lawyers in Local Government and the Association of Democratic Services Officers.
A decision is awaited on a High Court hearing on April 21 where it was argued that the ability to deliver democracy and make decisions in remote meetings during the coronavirus crisis should be maintained.
The hearing was told that the purpose of the campaign was to ensure that councils can operate in the same modern, contemporary way as other organisations in the 21st century.