A PROMINENT local politician told the House of Lords that some Yorkshire residents are having to make 100-mile round-trips to attend Council meetings.

Baroness Kath Pinnock (Lib Dem) was backing calls for local authorities to have the option to make some of their meetings virtual or hybrid - a move that could help residents who live a further distance from town halls.

Baroness Pinnock, who is also a long-serving councillor for the Cleckheaton ward on Kirklees Council, told the Lords: "It is not about going back to having all meetings held virtually; it is about having the option to do so where that makes sense in local circumstances.

"During the Covid pandemic, we learned that virtual meetings could be conducted and worked well, in accordance with local authority conduct of meetings."

She pointed out that people with disabilities find it more difficult to travel to a meeting in person, while those with caring responsibilities or demanding work schedules also struggled due to time contraints. I

She also pointed to "the huge size of some of the councils that the Government have now created" - using the example of North Yorkshire, which is now a unitary council.

She said: "Selby is in the south of the southern tip of North Yorkshire. To travel to a meeting in Northallerton, where the county headquarters is, means covering a distance of about 53 miles, which would take probably an hour and a half—so it is a three-hour round trip to go to a council meeting. Think of how many people that will exclude: those who cannot drive would not be able to get there, as there are no buses and no trains, or very few. This is not like London. In the winter North Yorkshire has snow, which makes it even more difficult to get physically to meetings, which is when a virtual option makes really good sense. There is also the example of this House, which has managed perfectly well holding its Select Committees virtually. If we can do it here, surely local authorities should be allowed to do it."