National Park Authority to now meet face to face

The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority has revealed plans for a return to in person committee meetings now that remote meetings are no longer lawful.

In order to comply with health and safety guidelines, and to ensure social distancing, the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority will hold its next two committee meetings at West Burton Village Hall and Grassington Devonshire Institute.

• The Finance and Resource Committee meeting on 25 May 2021 will be held at West Burton Village Hall.
• The Planning Committee meeting on 15 June 2021 will be held at Grassington Devonshire Institute.

Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority Chair Neil Heseltine said:

“Until the Government’s Covid restrictions are lifted further – currently planned for 21 June - we need to make use of larger indoor venues in order to accommodate Authority Members, members of the public and local media in a safe, socially distanced environment. 

“For safety reasons, this will mean limiting places available to those wishing to attend, so priority will be given to those who are registered public speakers and, after that, places will be allocated on a ‘first come, first served’ basis.

“Anyone wishing to attend a meeting will need to pre-book by contacting the Authority’s Committees Officer once the agenda has been published online. While not ideal, our priority is to keep Authority Members, the public and media safe when attending meetings”.

Committee meetings can no longer be live-streamed; however, recordings will be available to listen back to on the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority website and YouTube channel.

Mr Heseltine continued: “This is not a situation of our making. We are strongly supportive of local authorities, including this Authority, being given the option to hold meetings face-to-face or remotely - the decision being a local one - and we will continue to press Government for those powers”.