The public is being encouraged not to attend Warwick District Council committee meetings this week as councillors return to meeting in person.

Following a change in government regulations, all WDC committee meetings have now returned to Leamington Town Hall.

With three nights of planning meetings this week, the council is asking the public not to attend in person due to restricted space and the number of public speakers. The public can still view meetings via the council's YouTube channel.

Both the chamber and public gallery are expected to reach their capacity.

WDC's portfolio holder for transformation, Cllr Richard Hales said: "Although we're delighted to return to face to face meetings, we are also mindful that we still have to put some social distancing measures in place to keep those taking part safe.

"We therefore recommend that those wishing to watch these meetings should do so remotely via our YouTube channel."

He added: "It's been a challenging experience running our meetings virtually, but we recognise that there have been some real benefits too.

"Feedback clearly indicates the importance of continuing to broadcast our meetings, generating improved levels of engagement with more than 11,500 views of our YouTube channel videos since May 2020 (including over 771 views of a single planning meeting)."

The three planning meetings will take place this week (all at 6pm) and can be viewed live by following this link