Edition: Summer 2020
One of the biggest challenges in Local Government when social distancing and lockdown measures were introduced was managing the democratic process safely and lawfully.
Public meetings, including Full Council, Cabinet and Planning Committee, take place regularly and it’s our duty and legal obligation to ensure they are as accessible to the public as they would be normally.
The online conferencing solution that the Democratic Services team developed is working well. All meeting attendees sign in to the video-conferencing platform Zoom, and the meeting event is streamed live on the Council’s YouTube channel.
- Meeting attendees are able to raise their hand to ask questions in the meeting
- Votes are done by asking each member in turn whether they agree or not, as they would be in person
- If a councillor has connectivity issues and misses a portion of the discussion about an issue, they are excluded from voting on that particular issue.
It’s great that the public are now able to watch our meetings live on the internet. While councillors are happy to attend the meetings from home, I think we all miss the traditional format of being in the same room together.
David Penrose, Democratic Services Manager
Watch online
Watch Council meeting videos on the Horsham District Council Youtube channel
Read the latest edition
You may also like
Access green grant funding for your business
Since launching in 2024, our Green LEAP Grants have funded 32 climate-friendly business projects as an extension of our LEAP Small Business Grant Scheme.
Early intervention action
Our Early Intervention team undertakes projects to help support community safety and cohesion.
Read our refreshed Annual Plan
Following detailed work with teams across the Council, and a public consultation which ran in winter 2025, we have now published our Annual Plan for 2026–2027.