WHITEHILL Town Council met face-to-face to approve its budget and council tax bill – but leader Cllr Andy Tree feels this must not continue.

The Hampshire Association of Local Councils recommends councils “approve a temporary scheme of delegation allowing the clerk to implement recommendations made by councillors informally via remote meeting”.

Cllr Tree said: “This clearly implies HALC believes face-to-face meetings should be avoided. I made it very clear to councillors that giving apologies for these meetings for Covid-related reasons was perfectly reasonable.”

Online decision-making meetings were banned in May.