NEWBURY Town Council has held its first ever public meeting virtually, which the town mayor said was an “historic occasion”. 

The coronavirus and social distancing rules had previously prevented councillors across the UK from making political decisions, as legally they had to be in the same room. 

But since last week — when parliament passed the Coronavirus Act — councils can now hold meetings via video conference.

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Elizabeth O’Keeffe, the mayor of Newbury, said: “This is our first time to hold the meeting this way, and there may be some blips along the way. Please be patient. This is a learning curve for all of us.

“This an historic occasion, sadly at a time of great concern for us all.”

She was speaking at an extraordinary meeting of the full council, on March 30, which was the first to be held virtually.

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The mayor said: “Be assured that Newbury Town Council is working and cooperating with West Berkshire Council, the community hub, volunteer centre, and other parish councils, to ensure essential services and information are provided to all.

“There will, no doubt, be bumps in the road. But we will get through these difficult times together. The work, giving, and selflessness of our community groups and many individuals have been amazing.”

The leader of the council, Martin Colston, said in an interview afterwards that he was “really pleased” with how the first meeting went, and the town council intends to carry on holding public meetings virtually until the social distancing rules are lifted. 

Cllr Colston said: “We had a couple of practice sessions, and a training session to make sure everybody knew how it worked.” 

Newbury is one of the first councils to hold virtual public meetings, and so far West Berkshire Council and Reading Borough Council are yet to do so. 

If they were to follow suit, Cllr Colston said other councils should practice beforehand to make sure all councillors and officers are comfortable with how the technology works; and have a second, technical chairman who can mute or boot out people if necessary.

The importance of using technology to communicate, during social distancing, was highlighted at the end of the meeting by the mayor. 

Cllr O’Keeffe said: “Staying at home does not mean isolating ourselves from our family, friends, neighbours. So please do stay in touch as much you can with other people, with Skype, phone, WhatsApp et cetera. 

“We are very lucky to have all these ways of communicating these days.”

During the meeting, councillors voted to suspend the council strategy where appropriate, reallocate budgets to respond to the crisis if needed, and to support the community hub which is coordinating volunteer efforts.