Earlier today, Surrey County Council unanimously agreed to my motion which would see the Council look at holding meetings remotely after lockdown as finished.

The County Council and I hope virtual meetings will save taxpayers money and reduce its environmental impact, as well as encourage more working age people and those with caring responsibilities to become Councillors. The Council has also seen an increase in public engagement since meetings moved online, letting local people challenge their Council and Councillors remotely from their homes.

The decision was taken after the Council confirmed it had saved over £2 million on travel costs in the last year.  The cost of Councillors’ travel from April 2020 to February 2021 was less than £5,000, the bill from the same period the year before was over £50,000.  Staff travel costs in the same period was £2.1 million, less than half the year before.

I am pleased County Councillors unanimously backed my motion on virtual meetings.  We have seen in the last year that holding meetings remotely enables the Council to save a significant amount of money in travel costs as people no longer have travel to across Surrey for a meeting than could be done virtually.

With local elections coming up, I hope this encourages more younger people and those with families and caring roles to stand as a Councillor.  Better decisions will be made by local authorities if the Councillors making the decisions truly represent their communities.