Oakham town council is to stage its first 'in person' meeting towards the end of May.

The move puts the town council behind neighbouring town councils, such as Stamford, which will be holding its first in-person meeting on Thursday, when members will elect a mayor and deputy.

Oakham has already staged such an Annual Meeting, last week, when members voted to elect Zoe Nealson as mayor and Jean Denyer as deputy.

Until Friday May 7, councils were able to stage their meetings virtually due to the pandemic, but central government changed legislation, forcing the meetings to be held face-to-face.

However, council's such as Stamford Town Council, will be livestreaming the events online in a bid to keep meeting accessible to the public and to keep numbers down in the locations where the meetings will be held.

Oakham Town Council's first 'in person' meeting will be of its Parks and Recreation committee which is being held on the 26th May at 6.30pm.

Mayor Nealson told Nub News: "This will also be our first meeting in our new Chambers at Rol House on Long Row.

"Our offices moved here from the Victoria Hall at the beginning of the pandemic and so for most of us this will be the first time we have seen our brand new premises.

"This meeting is open to the public and people are encouraged to attend, the layout of the room will be organised to allow for adequate social distancing.

"For those that can't attend in person, the social media working group are active behind the scenes to try to ensure that the meetings can be live streamed to Facebook."