A RETURN to face-to-face meetings for planning and licensing matters is needed as soon as possible, according to councillors in Argyll and Bute.
Concerns were aired at a full council meeting last month about such hearings taking place without being able to see the people involved.
But plans to continue virtual meetings of all the council’s committees until at least April 2021 were voted through.
All council and committee meetings held since the end of March have taken place via Skype, with participants using only audio links.
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Councillor Jean Moffat said she wanted to see licensing hearings held in person at the council chamber in Lochgilphead, and Councillor George Freeman said he wanted to be able to “see the whites of people’s eyes”.
Council executive director Douglas Hendry said: “It is an essential feature of local democracy that actions of councillors, when they are deliberating, should be as widely available and open to the public as possible.
“What we have now is not anywhere near that. Against that background, I would say that even when we get on a more permanent basis to the other side of Covid-19 we will not, in my view, see a return to previous operations in their entirety.”
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