The number of meetings held by Hertfordshire County Council is to be “significantly reduced” in the coming weeks, in a bid to prevent the spread of the coronoavirus outbreak.

The next meeting of the full council will go ahead on Tuesday as planned, although no councillor will be asked to attend unless they are content to do so.

And the cabinet – which is made up of the council leader and the council’s eight executive members – will continue to meet.

However all county council committees such as audit and development control have been suspended with immediate effect.

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Scrutiny meetings, including ‘overview and scrutiny’, health and county council topic groups, will also stop until May, at least.

And the eight cabinet panels, which each have a remit that reflects a different area of the council’s work, will be replaced with a single ‘special cabinet panel’.

That special cabinet panel will consider business relating to all areas of the county council’s work. It is expected to meet every 14 days.

The temporary plans are said to have been agreed by political group leaders to enable the work of the council to continue while reducing the risk of infection.

Council leader Cllr David Williams said: “In light of the coronavirus outbreak and the potential consequences arising from holding meetings, group leaders have agreed a package of procedural measures that will enable the work of council to continue whilst at the same time reducing the risks of virus transmission.

“In order to achieve this the number of meetings being held by the council will, as an interim step, be significantly reduced and those that continue to be held will be managed so as to reduce the proximity of human interaction.

“These are a range of common sense measures in line with government guidance.”

The ‘rolling’ membership of the special cabinet panel will reflect the political make-up of the county council – with seven Conservatives, three Liberal Democrat and two Labour councillors. And members will be able to attend via video link or in person.

Decisions that would have been taken by committees – such as audit or development control – will be taken by officers or through email consultation with committee chairs and members. However there may be some exemptions.

The meeting of the full council on Tuesday will now include a presentation by director of public health Jim McManus.

And at the meeting councillors will be able to put questions to members of the council’s cabinet. Those questions are expected to focus on actions being taken against the coronavirus outbreak.

It is expected that attendance at the meeting could be close to the minimum number required for the meeting to be quorate, which is 20. There are 78 county councillors.