Brighton and Hove City Council could return to full meetings by May

The authority said it will be reviewing its process for meetings in April but maintained that it has a “duty to ensure the health and safety of the public, councillors and officers during council business". The annual meeting is on May 26.

Brighton and Hove City Council has not held an in-person meeting with its 54-member council for two years, due to the pandemic.

It has come under fire for this from the Conservatives, who say businesses and schools in the city have gone back to work in person but the council is “lagging far behind”.

• READ MORE: 'Coming into this room scares me' - steps to stop spread of Covid at council meetings

The Conservative group also claims the council cannot properly represent residents with only 14 of the city’s 54 councillors in meetings due to the restricted attendance it has in place.

A council spokesman said: “We have been keeping the arrangements for committee meetings and full council under regular review, with decisions put to all councillors for the vote.

“Our policy and resources committee and full council looked at how to manage meetings on 27 January and 3 February respectively. The process for meetings is due to be reviewed in April, ahead of annual council in May.”

Annual council is set to be held in the council chamber of Brighton Town Hall, according to the council website

In December, Labour and the Greens wrote a letter to the government calling for legislation to be passed to reintroduce powers for authorities to hold council and committee meetings remotely.

The government has given “supportive comments” on the idea, but there are “no immediate plans” to reintroduce legislation to allow remote meetings.

The council spokesman added: “We have therefore introduced some flexibilities within what the law allows, such as public engagement sessions, that enable some non-decision making parts of the agenda to be dealt with remotely.

• READ MORE: Council pleads with government to allow return of remote meetings amid rising Covid cases

“We continue to have very active and vibrant public engagement practice as compared to many other authorities.

“To best ensure public safety we are holding our budget council on February 24 at the Brighton Centre due to its larger capacity.

“We have worked with our staff and our trade unions to make these arrangements work.

“We will continue to work with them to agree how we can continue to best deliver council services safely, whether this is from home or in offices.

Hove Town Hall is set to hold the annual council meeting on May 18, 2023 (Image: BHCC)

“Aside from a very small number of staff who were furloughed for a relatively short time, all our staff have continued to work through the pandemic unless they have fallen sick or had to isolate.”

Mary Mears, Conservative councillor for Rottingdean Coastal, said: “It is important for our residents and for the local economy that the council now returns to work and we reopen Brighton and Hove Town Halls.

“The remote services have not been working for residents, with failures to issue parking permits, let empty allotments and fill empty council houses. Residents who cannot access remote services report the council phones ringing out and answerphones full - it is very frustrating for them.

Cllr Mary Mears wants the town halls reopened for full meetings

“The council has fallen behind in many areas with 8,800 housing repairs behind.

“The council employs many people and it would make a big difference to small business to have them back in the city and would bring a buzz back.

“Councillors themselves must now lead the way by returning to Hove Town Hall for meetings. After all how can councillors expect staff to come back to work if the councillors are not fully attending meetings themselves?”

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