Due to the Coronavirus, new regulations came into force on the 4th April that allow Councils to hold meetings remotely until May 2021: The Local Authorities and Police and Crime Panels (Coronavirus) (Flexibility of Local Authority and Police and Crime Panel Meetings) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020 (“the 2020 Regulations”)
Meetings:Broadly speaking, the 2020 Regulations enable local councils to hold remote meetings (including by video and telephone conferencing) for a specified period until May next year, members of the public must also have the option to join the meeting. AGPC are going to hold their first formal meeting via Zoom on the 4th May 2020 at 19.30, the meeting will be in the usual format and the agenda will be issued as normal 3 clear days ahead of the meeting. If any residents wish to join the meeting remotely, then please ask for the joining details when the agenda is published. We will not be publishing the joining details online as there have been reported issues of “Zoom Bombing” by unwanted visitors sharing inappropriate information. Please note residents will only be able to participate during the 15 mins Public section on the agenda, and at all other times of the meeting must mute their microphones, this is in line with normal meeting procedures.
Annual Parish Council Meeting: The regulations also remove the legal requirement to hold an annual PC meeting during this period, therefore the annual PC meeting has been cancelled and is replaced with the normal PC meeting detailed above.
Annual Parish Meeting: The regulations do not cover the annual parish meeting, but NALC’s view is these should not be held. Therefore, the AG Annual Parish meeting will be cancelled for this year, but we will ask the participants to send some narrative that can be included within a printed newsletter so they can still share their news with you.