Bishop’s Stortford councillor David Jacobs urges East Herts Council to hold meetings outside Hertford

A Bishop’s Stortford member of East Herts Council has called on the authority to hold meetings outside of Hertford.

Cllr David Jacobs, who leads the council’s five-strong Labour group and represents Stortford Central ward, said: “Doing so would enhance the council’s visibility in the community, improve accessibility to members of the public wishing to attend meetings in person and address perceptions that the council is overly Hertford-centric.”

At the latest meeting of the full council, he submitted a written question to the leader of the Green and Liberal Democrat administration, Cllr Ben Crystall.

He asked if the executive had considered holding committee and sub-committee meetings at venues other than the council headquarters in Wallfields, Hertford.

The authority’s former offices at Charringtons House in Bishop’s Stortford are scheduled for demolition as part of the Old River Lane project to transform the Causeway.

Cllr Jacobs said: “What considerations would need to be taken into account to identify suitable venues, and what investigations have been done to date?”

Cllr Crystall told him: “I’d welcome the opportunity for some meetings to be held beyond this council chamber [in Hertford]. But there are some obvious challenges: firstly capacity and accessibility – we’d need somewhere accessible, with space for at least 60 seats plus space for the public if we were going to consider moving a full council meeting.”

He said technology could also be an issue. Meetings are webcast live and uploaded to YouTube. While the council does have a portable recording system, it is suitable only for smaller meetings. Cllr Crystall said losing the webcast facility would be a step backwards.

“Using this chamber comes at minimal cost so pricing would also need to be a consideration,” said the leader.

He said the executive was happy to consider proposals for suitable alternative venues from councillors.

“If we think about holding a committee meeting elsewhere, then perhaps we would be looking at accessible space for 10 or 15 people plus space for the public, which shouldn’t be impossible to find.”