Hunt for ‘robust and quality’ solution to enable large hybrid meetings at council

Wrexham Council meetings are set to continue virtually for the foreseeable future while work on how they could be carried out in hybrid format takes place.

The local authority has been using Zoom to stream its meetings since last May.

These have seen senior councillors and council officers attend from their offices in the Guildhall while others ‘dial in’ from home.

Prior to covid-19 meetings took place in either the main chamber or associated committee rooms at the town centre office, with only planning, executive board, full council and some scrutiny committees webcast live due to the purchase-per-hour deal with the webcasting provider.

No formal council meetings have been held in the Guildhall since the start of March 2020, with many council staff and councillors working remote inline with the official guidance still in place to work from home if possible.

However the availability of meetings streamed by the public has increased since last May, with all those open to the public now available to watch on the council website each month.

In May 2021 Wrexham.com reported that councillors were keen to maintain the option to take part in the meetings virtually – something which had been discussed pre pandemic, but never executed.

With Wales now in Alert Level 0 and a change in the Welsh Government guidance on how many people can meet, we asked Wrexham Council whether there were any plans to introduce a hybrid approach to meetings and if there was a guarantee that all meetings will continue to be streamed even if councillors return to the Guildhall.

Chief executive of Wrexham Council Ian Bancroft, said the option for hybrid meetings is being explored however “there isn’t a solution that gives us the robustness and quality that we’ll need in terms of the democratic process at this stage.”

He said: “What we’ve got to do is provide support to any individual and that’s the same whether it’s an employee or a councillor.

“Legislation still says you don’t have to come in as an employee or a councillor, although if the workplace has put the right risk assessments in place, it’s fine for that to be available.

“So what we need to work through with every committee and the chair of that committee is what’s the position with those councillor in terms of on that committee. If everybody was willing to come in, then there is a position where we can consider a face to face meeting.”

“But, I know quite rightly, there are people with concerns about coming in and we need to respect that.”

“Therefore if we have people that are not able to come in, or prepared to come in because they have concerns which are totally legitimate, then at this stage we need to do those meetings virtually.

A 52 member Full Council meeting plus various Officers, support staff, third party speakers and presentations could be technically challenging to do in a mixed or even fully digital manner on an ongoing basis.

Mr Bancroft added, “Technology for small hybrid meetings numbering around 10 is ok. However as soon as you start to do hybrid meetings with numbers of 20, 30, 40, 50 there are huge technical issues in terms of sound quality.”

“We’re exploring how we might consider that with Publici and Zoom but there isn’t a solution that gives us the robustness and quality that we’ll need in terms of the democratic process at this stage.

‘There are other authorities that have piloted that, but have struggled in terms of doing those hybrid meetings.

“So we’ll continue to explore, we will continue to provide support in terms of people returning, but we will do it in a way that listens to everybody’s concerns.”

Wrexham Council has also moved into the recovery stage as, like other organisations, it looks to move beyond the emergency phase of the pandemic.

Mr Bancroft explained that the council is continuing to provide a level of response to covid with the Test, Trace, Protect system, but that it also looking towards the economic recovery of the town and wider county borough.

He said: “We’re obviously doing a lot of work around economic recovery and key to that the initiatives around town centre regeneration, empty properties, work with the MDA (Mersey Dee Alliance), Economic Ambition Board and the entrepreneurial loan fund.

“In terms of service recovery then all our services where they can, if they’re not under restrictions, are operating. We’re ensuring consistency in face to face service provision which is really, really critical.”

“Obviously the key as an employer is that we are carrying out the appropriate risk assessments, engaging and consulting with staff and with trade unions.”

Top picture, a reminder what the inside of the main chamber of the Guildhall looks like.