KEY decisions have been made at Bury Council by a newly-formed emergency group of councillors during the coronavirus crisis.

The COVID-19 Emergency Powers Group, which consists of the council leaders, senior cabinet members and opposition party leaders, has been meeting virtually on a weekly basis since lockdown measures kicked in.

The councillors can make urgent decisions over private conference calls if they are deemed to be too important to wait until normal meetings resume.

The decisions so far have included approving a £1.8m hardship fund for residents facing financial difficulties because of the coronavirus crisis.

They have also approved a three-month pay rise for carers, time-and-a-half for council staff working over the Easter weekend and a freeze on all fees and charges on a range public services.

Council officers have been given the authority to grant taxi licences for one year and Disclosure and Barring Service checks are set to be outsourced.

The meetings, which are attended by the chair of the overview and scrutiny committee, are also an opportunity for directors to update councillors on the local response to the coronavirus crisis.

Head of legal services Janet Witkowski told the group that the council’s IT provision will be reviewed to make sure councillors can take part in meetings.

This could allow scrutiny committee meetings, in particular for health-related matters, to take place virtually in the coming weeks.

But the council’s constitution suggests that a state of the borough debate should take place at the annual council meeting which is usually combined with the mayor making ceremony and was due to take place on May 20.

She said: “If restrictions still remain, we would be looking at something similar to the last meeting to be at least quorate.

"There will be some work to make sure that all the parties are adequately represented.”

The last council meeting held in public, which was due to be attended by all councillors, took place on March 18, with only 13 councillors present.

Members of the press have been invited to participate in the weekly emergency powers group meetings as an interim measure while the council considers how it can hold virtual meetings in public using the internet.