In line with Government advice, the Parish Council will no longer be holding physical Ordinary or Extraordinary Parish Council meetings, in public at the Village Hall. The Parish Council meetings at the Village Hall scheduled for the 25th June and 30th July have therefore been cancelled. A decision relating to Parish Council Meetings on 27th August and beyond, will be taken nearer the time.
However, Councillors do need to conduct normal Parish Council business, i.e., approving payments, responding to Planning Applications etc, so will continue to convene ‘virtual’ Parish Council meetings using Skype video conferencing. The Government has issued The Local Authorities and Police and Crime Panels (Coronavirus) (Flexibility of Local Authority and Police and Crime Panel Meetings) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020, which came into force on 4th April 2020, to support its Coronavirus (Covid-19) Bill and the following procedure allows the Parish Council to remain legally compliant with the Regulations, through remote attendance using video conferencing.
Agendas will continue to be published on the Cockfield Website and on the Parish Council Notice Board outside the Village Hall, on the Friday prior to the Parish Council meeting (held on the following Thursday). If members of the public are unable to attend the ‘virtual’ Parish Council Meeting, but wish to raise any issues relating to the agenda, e.g., comments on planning applications, etc, they can forward them (up until the Wednesday before the meeting) to the Clerk via the Parish Council email address, parish.council@cockfield.org.uk, and the Clerk will ensure that they are available to Councillors.
Members of the public can access and participate in the ‘virtual’ Parish Council meeting on Skype if they have a PC/Laptop/Tablet or Phone and a reasonable Wi-Fi signal, subject to any rules of participation specified by the Chairman at the start of the meeting. Any member of the public wishing to access the meeting should advise the Clerk via the Parish Council email address, parish.council@cockfield.org.uk, up until 5.00pm on the day of the Parish Council meeting and provide him with the email address associated with their IT/phone equipment. The Clerk will then email them a ‘Link to the Meeting’ and Access Instructions, shortly before the meeting (at approximately 7.15pm). Note: There should not be any need to have Skype pre-loaded on your PC/Laptop/Tablet/Phone, as the Link should enable you to access Skype via any web browsing software.
It is recommended that any member of the public intending to address the Parish Council during the meeting should provide a copy of their question (or report) to the Clerk via the Parish Council email address parish.council@cockfield.org.uk, in advance of the meeting, so that if their access is lost during the meeting (i.e., through a wi-fi failure), then the Chairman will be able to read out their question during the meeting.
The timescales relating to meetings in June and July are detailed below:
| Parish Council Meeting Agenda published on the Cockfield Website and the Parish Council’s Notice Board | 19th June | 24th July |
| Latest time/date for members of the public to submit comments they wish to be raised at the meeting by the Chairman in their absence, to the Clerk: parish.council@cockfield.org.uk | 6.00pm, 24th June | 6.00pm, 29th July |
| Latest time/date for members of the public to submit their request to access a meeting to the Clerk: parish.council@cockfield.org.uk | 5.00pm, 25th June | 5.00pm, 30th July |
| Clerk will issue the Link and Access Instructions | 7.15pm, 25th June | 7.15pm, 30th July |
| Time/Date of Parish Council Meeting | 7.30pm, 25th June | 7.30pm, 30th July |
