Coronavirus: Chichester City Council says anyone feeling unwell is ‘strongly advised’ not to attend meetings or events

Chichester City Council said it is following Public Health England’s guidance in a ‘fast-changing situation’ but day-to-day business is ‘unaffected’ at this stage.

In a notice on its website, the city council wrote: “If any individual proposing to attending a meeting/event is feeling under the weather, they are strongly advised not to attend.”

It added that its policy will be ‘based on official advice’ from the government ‘rather than upon speculation’. 

A spokesman said: “Clearly both staff, councillors and all users of the Council House need to follow guidance about personal hygiene and, if necessary, self-isolating.

“This could impact on operational efficiency eventually. At the moment, if any hirers wish to cancel bookings at the Council House then that is their choice, but we will not be making refunds.

“In the event of a ban on public gatherings being announced by the Government, that is a different matter and hire charges would be refunded.

“If committee meetings were affected, i.e. not being quorate, then we would switch to the whole council meeting on a much more regular basis to deal with matters across the board.”

The city council, said, in the ‘very worst-case scenario’, the building would be ‘closed for the recommended period’.

“At least we could deal with emails working from home and have contingency plans ready to implement if needs be,” the spokesman added. 

“We are adopting a pragmatic approach based on specialist advice and whilst there are, of course, concerns at the back of all our minds about what is going on we are not going to be affected by the contagion of panic.

“We will continue to review our policy as more official information becomes available. We express our appreciation to our hirers and visitors for their ongoing co-operation at this uncertain time.”

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