Craven District Council : Council and Committee Meetings cancelled until the end of August.

This follows two members of council staff testing positive for Covid and members sitting on the Council’s Standards Ctte now having to self- isolate following a meeting that was held last week.

The Chief Executive Paul Shevlin took the decision yesterday to cancel all meetings until the end of August. For any urgent decisions that need to be taken (insert decisions) the Council will be relying on the emergency authority delegated specifically to the Chief Executive in the Scheme of Delegation to Officers. Before making any decision the Chief Executive will consult with those members who would have sat on the Committee (or Council) had the meeting gone ahead.

Last year Councils were handed new powers to hold meetings virtually during the Covid pandemic. However, the High Court ruled on 28 April 2021 that virtual council meetings could not lawfully take place after 6 May 2021 and Council’s needed to revert back to face to face meetings.

Chief Executive Paul Shevlin said “ Whilst the Covid rates are so high I am simply not prepared to put officers and Councillors at risk by holding face to face meetings. An alternative work around is available to me so for any urgent decisions we need to make during August I will be relying on the emergency authority delegated specifically to me in the Scheme of Delegation to Officers. We’ll follow a similar process to the one we put in place at the start of the pandemic before virtual meetings were introduced. I will consult with members who would have sat on the relevant committee or Council before making my decision. We’ll review again at the beginning of September and hopefully rates will have considerably dropped again by then and we can revert to face to face meetings.”