England's largest council backs remote meetings plan

Councillors in North Yorkshire have backed proposals to allow members to take part and vote in key meetings from home.

North Yorkshire Council - the largest geographical council in England - said giving councillors "flexibility" to attend remotely was "a very welcome option".

It comes after the government held a consultation on plans to allow remote attendance and to allow proxy voting.

While councillors in North Yorkshire supported taking part in meetings from home the authority stopped short of giving their support to proxy voting.

Currently, councillors must attend meetings in person to be able to vote and contribute to a quorum.

However, ministers are looking to ease the rules to allow remote and hybrid meetings, with members having full voting rights even when they are not physically present in the room.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, North Yorkshire Council suggested up to half of its members could choose to attend council meetings remotely over a year, but that it recognised it was important to hold some meetings in person

It said: "This council values physical presence for the majority of meetings but does not consider central government should mandate how physical and remote meetings should be handled.

"It was noted during lockdown that having informal remote meetings was extremely helpful and in the future, it would be beneficial if those remote meetings could make binding decisions."

It added: "Having the flexibility for members to attend remotely would be a very welcome option for this Council which is the geographically largest in the country.

"Allowing remote meetings in appropriate circumstances can reduce mileage, travel time, costs and reduce carbon emissions."

However, on the issue of proxy voting, when a councillor would ask a colleague to vote on their behalf, the authority said it was not in favour.

"This council is not in favour of proxy voting as decision-makers should be physically or remotely in attendance at the meeting and hear the arguments made before a decision is taken," a spokesperson said.

"Allowing proxy voting in these circumstances would show a member to have a closed mind in that they would already have determined the way they are going to vote without hearing the arguments being presented on the day."

In 2023 a Local Government Association survey of around a third of English councils found nine in 10 had councillors who would make use of virtual meetings if allowed.

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