FACE-to-face council meetings will begin again in Oxfordshire next week.

Throughout the pandemic, a special set of emergency rules has allowed councils across the UK to meet virtually, using apps like Zoom and Microsoft Teams instead of council chambers.

However, the rules expired in England at the start of May, as the Government did not want to renew them.

Councils now have to return to in-person meetings, and in Oxfordshire the first of these will be held next week.

Oxfordshire County Council will hold its annual meeting on Tuesday, May 18, and Oxford City Council the next day.

The meetings will be held in Banbury's Spiceball Leisure Centre and the main hall at Oxford Town Hall respectively.

Both of these venues are large, open halls where social distancing can be maintained, and it is understood councillors will be separated by clear plastic barriers.

Meetings will still be live streamed for the public.