Hailsham Town Council held its first-ever virtual town council meeting last Wednesday [29 April), the Council’s first official meeting since the start of the nationwide shutdown due to COVID-19.
Members of the Town Council and staff took part in the remote session as coronavirus social distancing measures meant a traditional gathering of the elected members could not take place.
The allocation of emergency grant funding for local charities, community groups and voluntary organisations helping resdients community during the public health emergency was discussed at the meeting, and it was agreed that the Town Council will contact these groups to encourage them to apply for a grant and take advantage of this funding opportunity. A deadline of Friday 15th May has been set for all applications.
Also discussed was the Council’s position with regard to the Annual Council Meeting originally scheduled for Wednesday 20th May, and members agreed to postpone the meeting until May 2021. Therefore, the committee structure and membership of individual committees will remain the same for the next year and the roles of Town Mayor/Chairman and Deputy Town Mayor/Vice-Chairman will be retained by Cllrs Paul Holbrook and Amanda O’Rawe respectively.
A Scheme of Delegation for Council staff and members in the light of the current national pandemic situation was also agreed and confirmed by Council.
Council members and necessary staff used Zoom to conduct the meeting.
“Congratulations to members and the staff team for arranging what turned out to be a very successful virtual meeting of the Town Council,” said Cllr Paul Holbrook, Town Mayor and Chairman.
“It was wonderful to be able to engage in discussion and update residents on how the Town Council is supporting the local community during this difficult time. Excellent progress has been made by the Council as we managed to host our first-ever virtual meeting.”
Town Clerk John Harrison commented: “It is crucial that we continue to carry out our democratic role and hold remote meetings during these exceptional and challenging times. The meeting took a lot of organising and preparation, however, we are confident that any Council and committee meetings scheduled for the coming weeks will also be conducted successfully.”
The decision to hold ‘virtual’ meetings until further notice has come about as a result of emergency legislation by the Government which came into force on 4th April, allowing councils to hold virtual meetings online, also allowing the public to ‘sign in’ and participate in the public consultation section of meetings as normal.
Terry Hall, Communications Officer
Hailsham Town Council, Market Street, Hailsham, East Sussex, BN27 2AE
Telephone: 01323 841702 | Email: terry.hall@hailsham-tc.gov.uk