Notice is hereby given
Due to new guidance being issued we have taken the decision to cancel the May meeting.
As some of you may be aware, on the 28th April the High court ruled that In our view, once the Flexibility Regulations cease to apply, such meetings must take place at a single, specified geographical location; attending a meeting at such a location means physically going to it; and being “present” at such a meeting involves physical presence at that location.
Those regulations ended on the 7th of May making it illegal to hold meetings via zoom or other online platforms, so we took the decision to return to face-to-face meetings, feeling that we were taking the best course of action, to make our meetings as open and available to the public as possible, but also staying within covid secure guidelines.
Unfortunately, that meant that we were only able to safely accommodate a set number of members of the public (12) and we have received more notices of interest to attend than this number.
Guidance from the National association of local councils states that – If there is a large influx of the public for a meeting which exceeds the room’s safe capacity as stated on the agenda, then the permitted number of attendees should not be exceeded.
If the assessment is that the room cannot hold a safe meeting and no other venue is available or there is no outside space then, the local council will need to take appropriate mitigating actions including delaying meetings until after 21 June – NALC
Although we could say first come first admitted and only allow the first 12 to attend, we do not feel that would be a fair or democratic way to behave, we have looked into using other venues but we are not permitted to hold a meeting within a venue holding a liquor licence and the village hall is currently reserved for Pre-school only, to keep the staff and children as safe as possible.
We feel that we have no choice but to cancel this meeting, to keep members of the public and councillors safe, and to be open, fair and transparent at all times.
Considering this and changes coming into place on the 17th of May we are provisionally setting a new meeting date for TUESDAY 1st June, please note the change of day, this will continue going forward and is to accommodate the councillors’ other commitments.
Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions.
Kind regards
Mrs Lauren Scott
Assistant Clerk