Case studies

Kirklees Council held their first ever virtual council meeting on 1 May 2020 bringing together Microsoft Teams Live Events and streaming partner Civico. 

During the COVID-19 crisis, councils have been forced to shift communications online and interact with the public in very different ways.

The Greater Manchester Regulatory Centre of Excellence has created a unique partnership offering regulatory support and advice to businesses, mainly through the provision of primary authority partnerships. However, the partnership had always wanted to offer more for businesses both to ensure greater compliance and generate additional income for the local authorities and fire service. This case study forms part of the productivity experts resource.

South Staffordshire Council is using MS teams to hold remote meetings.  

Running a virtual workshop using MS Teams

Ashfield District Council held its Annual Meeting of Council virtually on 23 April. The first testing sessions carried out were to decide which application would best suit a meeting with 35 Elected Members and up to six supporting officers.

Despite these unprecedented times, local authorities still need to deliberate and make decisions about the future of their localities, enable democratic participation from applicants and residents, maintain momentum on major developments in their boundaries while adhering to social distancing and new Government regulations during the COVID-19 emergency.

The Basingstoke and Dean Borough Council team is looking to launch their virtual council meetings through Zoom’s webinar feature.

In response to the COVID-19 emergency Adur and Worthing councils have begun preparing to run council meetings online under new Government regulations to ensure democracy is transparent.

Lancaster and Wyre councils share a Head of ICT and have a vision to share IT services. The current pandemic has highlighted the need to share software and processes between the two authorities.