In-person council meetings in Aberdeenshire will most likely not return until next year, the leader has confirmed – but they will recommence in Aberdeen next week.
Both Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen City councils held their final real-life committee meetings in March and since then have been conducting much of their business over the internet.
While the city council is preparing to stage its first meeting in the council chambers on Broad Street for months on Tuesday – its licensing committee – Aberdeenshire councillors are not expected to return to Woodhill House physically until 2021.
And Jim Gifford, the leader of Aberdeenshire Council, said he predicts certain kinds of meeting will remain online even in a post-pandemic world in order to save money and reduce the authority’s carbon footprint.
He said: “We made the decision that we’re going to continue with virtual meetings right through to the end of this year – although we may revisit that if things change dramatically.
“Online meetings have worked remarkably well but we’ve been having discussions and believe that, where we can, we should go back to having full-blown committee meetings in-person as there are aspects like social interaction that are important.
“But while we will have bigger meetings in-person, many smaller meetings could very well be done remotely.
“If you’re only having an hour-long meeting, why on earth would you have people driving from all four corners of Aberdeenshire to do that?
“Dialling in and getting the job done saves time, it saves money on fuel, and saves the planet C02 as well.
“Whatever we go back to is going to be somewhat different.”
