AN outbreak of coronavirus amongst staff and councillors at Craven District Council has forced the cancellation of meetings until the end of August.

Any emergency decisions will be made by the chief executive Paul Shevlin, under emergency delegated powers, following consultation with councillors.

The council said Monday’s decision had been taken following high rates of Covid across the district. A number of council staff have also tested positive or are having to self isolate as well as a number of councillors.

Decisions due to have been taken this week were the council’s stance on the Tour de Yorkshire and whether it would underwrite next year’s event by up to £100,000. That decision will now be made by Mr Shevlin, following consultation with Policy Committee members.

Mr Shevlin said: “While the Covid rates are so high I am simply not prepared to put officers and councillors at risk by holding face to face meetings. An alternative work around is available to me so for any urgent decisions we need to make during August I will be relying on the emergency authority delegated specifically to me in the Scheme of Delegation to Officers.

“We’ll follow a similar process to the one we put in place at the start of the pandemic before virtual meetings were introduced. I will consult with members who would have sat on the relevant committee or council before making my decision.

“We will review again at the beginning of September and hopefully rates will have considerably dropped again by then and we can revert to face to face meetings.”

Last year councils were handed new powers to hold meetings virtually during the Covid pandemic.

Despite the attempts by some councils to extend the special arrangements, the Government did not extend the legislation and, the High Court ruled in late April that virtual council meetings could not lawfully take place after May 6.