Zoom meetings ban sees Middlewich Town Council convene in car park

A town council has held a meeting in a car park after legislation which allowed it to meet virtually expired.

The government announced in March that it could not fit in legislation to allow online meetings to continue beyond May.

As a result, Middlewich Town Council met outside its usual venue, Victoria Hall, on Monday, due to the building being used as a vaccination centre.

Council clerk Lisa Benskin said it was "extremely frustrating".

In a video shared on social media, cars could be heard using the car park throughout the Cheshire authority's meeting.

The hall would have been big enough to accommodate a socially distanced meeting of all those who normally attend if it had been available.

The council's alternative plans to meet indoors on Monday at the smaller Middlewich Methodist Church were scuppered after Covid-19 rules on meetings were extended beyond 21 June and a postponement was not possible due to there being a time-sensitive item on the agenda.

Ms Benskin said it was exasperating, as the council had been meeting using video conferencing app Zoom and would have loved to have been "able to continue online meetings", but no longer could legally.

Jackie Weaver, who took charge of a now-infamous council Zoom meeting during lockdown, said it was "ridiculous" councils were "in this position".

"One might argue the government has more pressing issues on its mind, but local democracy is something that all of us have an interest in," she said, adding that it would "only be a teeny-weeny bit of legislation".

Sue Baxter, chair of the National Association of Local Councils, said councils were being "forced to find creative ways to meet in person".

"You simply wouldn't see MPs and peers forced to meet in a car park or a field," she added.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said guidance on how councils can minimise the risks of face-to-face meetings had been published and "unprecedented emergency funding" had been provided.

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