Cheshire West and Chester Council's next full council meeting will now take place online due to rising Covid-19 infection rates.

The meeting is scheduled for July 15.

Councillors will meet virtually to discuss the same agenda but will not be allowed to make formal decisions during the meeting.

The Local Government Act 1972 states that councillors must meet in person to make decisions. However the council has said that decisions will instead be taken after the meeting using the council's urgent decision-making procedures.

Local councils had been temporarily allowed to meet virtually and make decisions during the pandemic but this ended in May 2021.

The decision to return online has been made on the advice of Cheshire West and Chester's director of public health, the council's chief executive and its monitoring officer. Plans to delay the meeting were discussed but rejected given that there is no guarantee that infection rates will drop.

The public will still be allowed to speak and ask questions during the meeting, whilst councillors will also be allowed to submit questions and motions.

Council chairman Cllr Bob Rudd said: "Cheshire West and Chester has experienced a sharp increase in Covid-19 infection rates over the past few weeks.

"In the light of this, the council has taken the correct legal guidance and advice from our public health team and taken the decision not to hold the meeting in person. Instead, we will host an informal remote meeting which will be broadcast to residents as a webcast."

The borough has seen an increase in Covid-19 cases in recent weeks and the current seven-day rate stands at 170 per 100,000 people.

Cllr Rudd added: "Full in-person meetings of full council will be re-established as soon as the public health situation allows, and it is not the intention that remote meetings become a normal means of holding full council meetings. It is therefore the intention to hold an in-person council meeting on 21 October 2021."