ONLY THING THAT IS A 'VIRTUAL' CERTAINTY IS COUNCILLOR DENISE CLEWS BEING ELECTED CHAIRMAN AND MAYOR FOR 2020/21

THE AUDIENCE will be limited to 100 with only nine faces visible on the screen at any one time as Atherstone's lowest tier of democratic accountability welcomes a brave new world born out of necessity in these unprecedented Covid-19 times.

They'll be no need to stand on ceremony as Thursday evening will break the mould – and centuries of tradition – as Atherstone Town Council goes 'virtual' to conduct its business remotely.

The scheduled curtain raiser to a new civic year will have all the traditional hallmarks of a normal annual meeting – without the physical presence of councillors or members of the public.

And homes – presumably with a library backdrop if TV interviews are anything to go by these days – will replace the council chamber as the venue of choice for everyone taking part.

All will be vying to have a piece of the action courtesy of Zoom, which combines mobile collaboration, cloud video conferencing and simple online meetings into one platform.

The citizen session will be staged as a virtual Zoom event – with attendees asked to get 'joining instructions' ahead of the 7pm start.

Outgoing council chairman David Wright said "The public is very welcome to attend our first virtual meeting."

Any member of the public wishing to take part via Zoom must email the town clerk at [email protected] before 3pm on the day to register, the council has insisted.

What can the public expect to see and hear on the day?

The 22-item agenda looks full enough with first duty to appoint a new chairman and mayor who will re-unify the post separated in 2019/20 to accommodate Councillor Carl Gurney as the first citizen and Councillor David Wright as the council leader.

If everything goes according to the script then Councillor Denise Clews, representing Atherstone South, will take the chair (and the rest of the meeting) and the mayoral chain of office for the next 12 months.

Don't expect any last-minute high drama there as Councillor Clews is set to add 'town mayor' to her North Warwickshire term of civic office in 2018/19.

Another knock-on of coronavirus has meant the council has been unable to deal with the Honorary Citizen Award 2020, prior to the meeting.

It is expected nominations for the award will be invited from the public.

Members may have their fingers crossed for no hitches in the cloud but at least the technology was "tried and tested" earlier this month in a 20-minute run-through which is understood to have gone well – with the "vast majority finding it very helpful", according to the council leader.

Editor's footnote: Full marks to the councillors for embracing technology to keep the vital wheels of democracy rolling in these torrid times.