Virtual committee and full council meetings will be held by South Kesteven District Council starting next month.

Planning committee will be the first such meeting, which will be 'held' on Tuesday May 12. It follows a dress rehearsal for the meeting staged earlier today.

This will be followed by the Full Council which will meet remotely on Thursday 14 May.

Other meetings will use this method until September.

Due to the Covid-19 crisis, SKDC had to postpone and cancel statutory public meetings.

However, the Council is pleased to be re-starting committee and council meetings and members of the public will be able to follow proceedings online through a link on ModernGov where the agenda and joining details will be published.

South Kesteven District Council Leader, Cllr Kelham Cooke, said: "We are all having to work differently to help save lives and protect the NHS and as a council, we are no different.

"I am pleased that over the last five weeks, we have already enabled over 400 staff to work remotely and now we will be able to meet virtually as a council.

"It is important to keep the business of council going wherever possible and to maintain our policy of being open and transparent. This is a significant step forward, and I am proud to lead such a resilient and forward-thinking council."

The Council will be publishing a new timetable on its website and all meetings will be held virtually until September 2020.

The Annual Council meeting has been postponed until September 2020. This will be reviewed in line with Government advice at the beginning of August).

Deepings Independent councillor Ashley Baxter has kindly submitted a report on today's proceedings, which can also be viewed on our Deepings Nub News website.