Council still holding remote-only meetings after lockdown

THE Vale of Glamorgan Council has said it is exploring better ways to platform its meetings following a backlash from councillors. Opposition councillors at the local authority have criticised an absence of face to face meetings since lockdown restrictions were lifted in Wales over a year ago.

The council is also one of a number of local authorities in the country which does not carry out its meetings using a hybrid platform. Leader of the Plaid Cymru group at the council, Cllr Ian Johnson, said: “It is poor that the Vale of Glamorgan Council is still holding remote-only meetings, a year after legislation came into force to allow hybrid meetings.

“The council still does not allow contributions in Welsh because there is no translation facility provided. The Multi-Location Meeting policy adopted in April, 2022, hasn’t been revised after a year. I assume because we have no idea whether or not it works because, apart from a handful of occasions last summer, there has been no live meetings to test this.”

The council stopped using Civico in November, 2022, after revealing that it was experiencing technical difficulties with the webcasting platform. It said that a number of tests would be carried out ahead of the new year with a view to resuming its use of the platform again for a meeting in January. However, council meetings have been continuing to take place remotely for months.

Following the council’s annual general meeting on May 10, the Conservative group leader at the council, Cllr George Carroll, said: “Serious matters are discussed at council meetings, including setting budgets worth hundreds of millions of pounds. We need proper scrutiny of these decisions that can only be provided face to face; meeting behind a screen is not the same. It’s therefore unacceptable that the council is meeting solely virtually. Other councils manage to hold hybrid meetings so there can be no excuse.

A Vale of Glamorgan Council spokesperson said: “We have been exploring various options for a more streamlined hybrid meeting solution in recent months. A report will be considered by the council’s cabinet next month which will provide details of a hybrid platform which we hope to trial for the next 12 months.

“Elected members are currently able to attend meetings in the council chamber via remote means or join remotely from another location, so we do have a hybrid offer in place at the moment through Microsoft Teams, however the platforms we have been exploring would be a more streamlined option, which we hope to have in place in the coming weeks.”