Councillors will likely be signing in from home when meetings resume at Bexley Council, after the government relaxed rules governing local authorities in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

The government announced on Friday it would temporarily remove the legal requirement for authorities to hold public meetings in person during the coronavirus pandemic from Saturday (April 4).

The move frees the way for councils to conduct their meetings online.

While Bexley already streams the majority of its meeting on a live webcast, coronavirus lockdown precautions mean the authority will have to find a way to allow councillors themselves to log in and participate online.

Individual authorities will have a large degree of autonomy to decide how exactly they do this, with the government saying it will be up to each local authority to decide how to ensure that the public has access.

According to Opposition leader and Belvedere ward member Cllr Daniel Francis, the move needs to allow for scrutiny and public input on council actions.

“This solution will of course need to ensure that applicants, objectors and ward councillors are able to make representations in the determination of licensing and planning applications,” Cllr Francis said.

“It will also need to determine whether the council can hold an AGM in May and if so, how it holds this, along with how our meeting schedule can be reintroduced in the near future.

“I hope that officers will be in a position to share proposals with all councillors within the next week.”

In a brief statement, a spokesperson for Bexley Council said they were hopeful of soon having the exact process worked out.

“We are looking at ways of holding essential Council meetings during the current pandemic and hope to have a solution in place shortly,” they said.