Most councils would like to be able to reintroduce virtual meetings to support the recruitment and retention of councillors, a new survey has revealed.
A Local Government Association (LGA) survey found that 95% of councils want the powers to be able to reintroduce virtual and hybrid technology for statutory council meetings.
One in 10 of the surveyed local authorities reported having a councillor who had stepped down since May 2021 due to the requirement for them to attend in-person meetings.
Completed by a third of councils in England, the LGA poll found 84% of councils said their councillors with work commitments would benefit from hybrid meetings while 64% thought that councillors with childcare commitments would also take advantage of digital meetings.
No council surveyed wanted to hold fully virtual meetings.
Joe Harris, a vice-chair of the LGA, said: ‘Councillors are restricted by law to attend council meetings in person, which can deter a range of people, including full-time professionals, parents of young children, carers, workers and disabled people from stepping forward to represent their communities.
‘The Government should provide councils, who know their communities best, with the flexibility they need to decide how to use hybrid technologies in their meetings.'
