All Western Bay of Plenty District Council meetings – including committees, community boards, and ward forums – will resume face-to-face meetings from now on.

The decision to resume in person meetings came as Aotearoa New Zealand moved into the Covid Protection Framework's ‘orange' traffic light setting at 11.59pm on April 13.

Customer service and governance manager Barbara Whitton says the decision to return to face-to-face meetings was led by the change in traffic light settings, but that doesn't mean council will stop livestreaming meetings held in chambers.

'Keeping the wheels of local government running smoothly during a pandemic has been challenging at times, we've learned a lot and will carry on with some of the new practices we've picked up – such as livestreaming Council and committee meetings held in Council Chambers on Council's YouTube channel.

'While the meetings will primarily be held in-person, we now have the technology for people to attend Council and committee meetings virtually if they need to, if they're isolating for example.

'We want to keep up the great processes we've put in place and ensure that we can continue to make these meetings accessible to as many people as possible.”

From now on, anyone can attend a meeting in person, and while mask use is encouraged it is not required.

'The processes for attending meetings will continue as normal. If you'd like to speak at a public forum, please register with our team (governanceservices@westernbay.govt.nz) a couple of days ahead of time and we'll make the necessary arrangements.”

The first meeting to resume in person, was the Waihī Beach Community Board on Tuesday, April 19.

Subscribe to Council's YouTube channel to be notified of a Council or committee meeting livestream youtube.com/wbopdc

To see a list of all upcoming meetings head to westerbay.govt.nz/meetings-calendar