A special Covid-19 emergency committee is being established by the city council to help manage the authority's decision-making during the current crisis.

It is due to be approved at tomorrow's (Thursday) first full council meeting since the lockdown, which is being held using virtual technology to maintain social distancing instead of in Canterbury's Guildhall, as usual.

The new committee would deal with nearly all issues requiring a councillor decision until August 31 at the earliest.

It will include the forthcoming emergency budget at which councillors will have to decide ways of making huge savings due to the collapse in parking and rental revenue.

The exception is planning and licensing meetings, which will continue as they are now, but held as virtual meetings.

Tomorrow's meeting at 4pm and can be viewed on the council's YouTube channel.

Chief executive Colin Carmichael will put two options to members - a new emergency Covid-19 committee of all 38 councillors or a smaller 17-strong politically-balanced committee, which he favours.

As much public participation as possible will be retained, but through pre-recorded contributions with technical support by council officers.

Councillors will join tomorrow's full council meeting remotely, and it will be chaired by the Lord Mayor, Cllr Terry Westgate, in the usual way.

Mr Carmichael said: "A lot of hard work has taken place behind the scenes to get this set up and we have held mock meetings to test the technology.

"We can't rule out the odd technical hiccough but we hope it will run smoothly.

"As yet, we do not know when traditional committees will be able to return, but there will be decisions that councillors need to take in the coming weeks. It's important we have a system in place that allows this to happen."

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