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Cardiff Council Continue with Virtual Meetings
Cardiff council to continue with virtual meetings to avoid bitter and rancorous debate and "bullying".
07:29 07 March 2022
Cardiff council has confirmed that they will continue holding public meetings virtually partly due to "better behaviour and less heckling" from councillors.
Councillors have been holding public meetings over Microsoft Teams since May 2020 due to the pandemic. However, they will soon switch to a "multi-location policy" where some members can meet in person with others joining virtually.
The reports for the plan said: “Although experiences have been mixed, on the whole meeting management and the behaviours of participants have both improved, with less heckling taking place at meetings.”
Some councillors have described traditional face-to-face council meetings as "shambolic and directionless", with claims of baying, laughing and talking over to intimidate and undermine". This is prevented during virtual meetings as the council is using a technology that prevents laughing or heckling from being heard as microphone are switched off unless members have been specifically called to speak.
One consultee said: “It would be really sad if meetings went back to being [in person] as it seems such a chunk of people’s time if they’re not already in County Hall.”