Councillors in Cannock Chase support virtual meeting calls

In 2020 rules requiring councillors to meet in person were relaxed as a temporary measure to help control the spread of coronavirus. Meetings moved online and many members of the public tuned into the livestreams to watch local democracy in action.

The Government decided last year not to renew the measures allowing virtual meetings. But councillors and local government organisations have called for authorities to have the choice to hold virtual meetings or “hybrid” sessions, where some members meet in person and others attend remotely.

Members of Cannock Chase Council backed the campaign at their full meeting this month. They said the choice to allow virtual and hybrid meetings as well as physical ones would open up local democracy to more people who may otherwise be unable to easily visit council chambers in person.

Council leader Olivia Lyons put forward a motion that was backed by fellow members. They also agreed to write to Cannock Chase MP Amanda Milling to request her support.

The motion stated: “On 5 January 2022, the Association of Democratic Services Officers (ADSO) and Lawyers in Local Government (LLG) launched a petition calling on the Government to change the law to give councils the freedom to hold remote meetings when local circumstances suit. This includes hybrid meetings.

“This council supports the petition. We agree to write to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities calling on the Government to change to the law to allow councils the flexibility to hold such meetings when they deem appropriate within agreed rules and procedures.”

Cannock Chase Council has continued to live stream its meetings on YouTube since members returned to meetings at the Civic Centre last year.

Councillor Lyons said: “It opens up local democracy and for me that’s really important.

During the pandemic and since, where meetings have been more widely broadcast, we have seen an increase in engagement and people watching and that can only be positive. It improves quality and also ensures transparency.

“Some formal meetings are better to be held in person and there should be rules and protection to ensure it can’t be exploited. But if there was another Covid outbreak it would enable us to decide locally if it warranted meetings going online.”

Councillors across the chamber backed the motion.

Councillor Andrea Muckley said: “I think it will improve accessibility. I myself was unable to come to the last meeting because our family fell to the dreaded Covid and I would be glad to have online meetings.

“As a mum I loved accessing the meetings at home. It meant I could pop upstairs to a meeting and come back down and be a mum.

“It makes it so much easier and creates ability for more people to become councillors. I think we need more diversity.

”Having us online is a way of humanising us. We’re doing our job and people need to see that. More people have been watching council meetings as a result of them being online and I fully support this.”

Councillor Josh Newbury said: “It is an eminently sensible suggestion. As a parent of a young child it can be pretty difficult juggling stuff with being a councillor.

“Anything we can do to open it up to a wider range of people to sit in this chamber is absolutely fantastic.”