Weymouth Town Council to hold meeting on beach

Weymouth Town Council has come up with a sandy solution after the Government outlawed virtual council meetings in what is described as an 'attack on democracy.'

It means that votes passed at online council meetings carry no official weight - and the town council has been vocal in its disappointment after thousands of residents have been tuning in to watch the meetings during lockdown.

Now, the council wants to ensure that people can still participate when face-to-face meetings resume - however, with 29 councillors and up to five officers who need to attend, space in the Weymouth Council Chamber would have been significantly limited and the public may not have been able to join in.

• READ MORE: Weymouth council continues virtual meetings despite Government ban

If more residents turned up at a meeting than could be fitted safely into the room, the meeting would have to be stopped and cancelled immediately.

Instead, a Full Council meeting is being held on the beach at 11am tomorrow, Thursday June 24, meeting outside the Beach Office.

Some other councils in England are also getting around the issue by holding meetings outside - however Weymouth is thought to be the first of its size to do so - and the first council to hold a beach meeting.

Meanwhile, town and parish councils in Wales have been supported by their government and are able to carry on meeting online.

Weymouth town clerk Jane Biscombe, said: "Weymouth Town Council is drawing attention to this inequality and attack on democracy, at a time when residents want and need to be aware of what their councils are doing to support them in covid recovery, by holding our Full Council meeting on June 24 in the only way we can safely – in the fresh air on Weymouth Beach."

• READ MORE: Local councils struggle to find space for in person meetings to resume

Besides public questions, the main legal item on the agenda is the signing of the annual governance statement as this is one duty that cannot be delegated to the town clerk and so cannot be done virtually.

This is the reason the council must meet face-to-face before June 30, which is the legal deadline for signing the annual governance statement.

Residents are invited to join Thursday's meeting to put forward any questions they may have to local councillors.

The meeting will also be live streamed as usual on the town council’s Facebook page: www.facebook.com/WeymouthWTC

• There is also a virtual Full Council meeting tonight at 7pm. For more information click here.