The days of a full council chamber will not return, councillors told

Council meetings will not return to the way they were before the coronavirus pandemic, with members having the option of attending remotely, it has been said.

Meetings of Gwent’s five local authorities have moved online due to the pandemic, with councillors attending virtually.

On Monday, Monmouthshire council’s democratic services committee discussed the future of meetings and the most effective approach for once more holding meetings of area committees, which have yet to restart due to the pandemic.

John Pearson, Monmouthshire council’s local democracy manager, said that in the future councillors will have the option of attending meetings in person or remotely.

But Mr Pearson said the days of all councillors being in the council chamber for meetings are in the past.

“We could still get the majority of members back in the chamber, but remote attendance is here to stay,” he said.

“I can’t ever see a point anymore where we are going to go back to fully physical meetings because one, the legislation allows it and two, members are becoming more familiar with it and more comfortable in taking part remotely.”

The Local Government and Election (Wales) Act being introduced by Welsh Government requires councils to make arrangements to enable remote attendance at meetings.

Councillors on Monmouthshire’s democratic services committee said they would prefer to see a hybrid approach of attending meetings in person and virtually in the future.

Cllr Martyn Groucutt said remote working could be “very effective” in helping to reduce the council’s carbon footprint and member travel expenses.

“County Hall has many benefits, but it’s also a fact that it is in a rural location and most members need either to put on some hiking boots to get there or have to drive,” he said.

“In my particular case, that’s a round journey of 26 miles in my car every time I come to County Hall.

“Some of the meetings I attend last under 30 minutes.”

Cllr Jo Watkins said that virtual attendance could also encourage more of the public to get involved in meetings.

“Allowing the public to attend virtually could potentially help that a lot,” she said.

Cllr Giles Howard said virtual meetings could improve public involvement at area committee meetings, which he said only “a minute proportion of the population” took part in before the pandemic.

Cllr Howard also said some members of the public may feel more comfortable attending a meeting online than in person.

Cllr Peter Clarke said that planning committee meetings should be among the first to be held in the council chamber, due to difficulties viewing documents online.

A sub-group of councillors will be set up to pilot a virtual area committee meeting with contributions from external participants.

The pilot meeting will likely be held after the Senedd and police and crime commissioner elections on May 6.