TOWN councillor John Blissett is to carry on wearing the chains of office as Barnard Castle mayor for the foreseeable future.
Cllr Blissett – who has been town mayor on four occasions – was due to hand over to his successor at the town council’s annual meeting earlier this month.
However, due the the lockdown restrictions, all town council meetings have been suspended since March and unlike some other parish councils in the dale, the group does not hold virtual meetings using video conferencing technology. In normal circumstances, members would have chosen Cllr Blissett’s successor. The current deputy mayor is Cllr Frank Harrison.
Town clerk Martin Clark explained new regulations came into force at the beginning of April which suspended the need for annual council meetings to be held.
“This, in effect, means that the town mayor, deputy, and all chairs of the committees remain in place until such time as the next annual meeting,” he said.
“There is a provision in the regulations for the council to elect a new chairperson at another meeting later if it so wishes. At the moment though we are looking at Cllr Blissett remaining until 2021.”
Cllr Blissett said he was happy to carry on but said the past few weeks had been a frustrating time.
Due to his age, he is classed as “at risk” and has been unable to join in some of the community efforts which have been instigated around the town.
“I would have been out and about, but because I have reached my three score and ten years, it is not a nice situation at all,” said Cllr Blissett.
He praised the efforts of groups such as the Covid Cutz volunteers, who have raised thousands of pounds for health charities, helpers at The Hub, who have been distributing care packages to the most needy and staff at Babul’s restaurant, who have handed out thousands of free meals to key workers and others.
“I just wish I could get out there, but it is just one of those things. It [the lockdown] will be over one day.”
Cllr Blissett said a number of other smaller authorities were in the same boat as Barney and decided to carry on with their existing mayoral arrangements. As far as council business is concerned, Cllr Blissett said members were keeping on top of things.
“Luckily we can do any business by email between us to get it sorted.”
