We shouldn’t revert to meetings in city

An open letter to Councillor Dine Romero, leader of Bath and North East Somerset Council, and Will Godfrey, chief executive of Bath and North East Somerset Council.

As a group of independent councillors who have heavy workloads, family commitments and generally

live outside of Bath, we have welcomed the way Covid-19 has forced the council to hold virtual meetings.

Before Covid-19, rural councillors could easily clock up 100 miles travel per week (three to four trips to Bath per week) and up to six to eight hours of that time could be spent travelling. This reflects a poor use of councillor time, an unacceptable carbon footprint and poor use of council resources.

As we emerge from this pandemic and start to return to normal we would like:

■■ 1. An assurance from the coun

cil leader and chief executive that B&NES Council will emerge from this with a varied, logical and planned style of meeting structure fit for the future.

2. A commitment from the council leader and chief executive to investigate fully the options.

■■ 3. To see a detailed report looking into the options available and the costs to evaluate the viability of hybrid meetings.

■■ 4. This council to lobby our MPS to ensure legislation continues to allow councils to operate virtual and hybrid meetings.

In our opinion it would be unac

ceptable given the technology available to revert back to the previous meeting arrangements.

We would like to see a balance of virtual and hybrid meetings.

There is cost-effective technology available today and it is our duty given our declaration of a climate emergency to invest in a carbon neutral approach. We believe that this work should be undertaken as a matter of urgency so that any resources needed can be allocated in the February budget.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Sarah Bevan, Colin Blackburn,