Borough council cancels all scheduled meetings until September in wake of coronavirus pandemic

The annual mayor-making at the authority – due to take place in May – will also be put back until September as the council introduces emergency measures in order to control the spread of the virus, which is also known as Covid-19.

The current Mayor Gareth Jones is over 70 years old, as are several fellow borough councillors, and anyone over 70 has been advised by Government to be “particularly stringent in following social distancing measures”.

The council’s reception area at its Riverside Civic Centre is currently self serve only and residents have been urged to avoid any unnecessary visits to the centre.

Anyone who needs to contact the council is being asked to use other methods, such as emailing info@staffordbc.gov.uk or sending a message via Twitter or Facebook.

The decision to stop holding scheduled meetings until September was taken on Wednesday when council leader Patrick Farrington met with Labour opposition group leader Aidan Godfrey and Rob Kenney, leader of the Borough Independents group, to discuss how the council business could continue during the pandemic.

It has been decided that in the coming few months the cabinet will discuss issues that would have normally gone to full council – and opposition leaders could be invited to attend cabinet meetings

Some meetings could be held via video link if necessary. But the authority would look to convene an emergency meeting if a decision was urgently needed.

Speaking after the meeting Councillor Farrington said: “These are unprecedented times and, in such times, it requires community leaders to take the initiative to ensure the democratic process is upheld.

“The health and wellbeing of all of us, family, friends and the wider community are paramount. We know people are worried and the council is working with our partners in the health service and other key services to do what we can to help.”

“We have a very good working relationship with councillors and officers at this authority and I am pleased we were able to come together, along with our chief executive Tim Clegg, to discuss how we were going to take things forward for the foreseeable future.

“I’m grateful to Aidan and Rob for their constructive input and desire to make this work.”