COUNCIL meetings across Hampshire will be held online after some of them were cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Both Hampshire County Council and Southampton City Council have confirmed that council meetings will resume and they will be held online.

Meetings at the city council will start on May 19, when the cabinet meeting will be held at 4.30pm.

The Annual General Meeting at the city council will take place on May 20 at 2pm while a meeting of the Planning and Rights of Way panel will be held on May 21 at 6pm.

All meetings can be viewed live via the council’s website, the authority said.

In a statement it added: “The council has made it possible for the meetings to be streamed live over the internet, enabling people (including council members) to attend in a virtual capacity. The meetings will no longer be held at the Civic Centre and people should not attend in person.”

Residents will need to download the Microsoft Teams app to their PC or mobile device. It comes as meetings were cancelled in March due to Covid-19.

In a statement the council added: "While the council has been prioritising essential services and supporting vulnerable residents at this time, no major council decisions have been deferred in Southampton, as the start of the UK’s lockdown coincided with the scheduled pre-election period."

Meanwhile, Hampshire County Council – which on Friday held its first virtual cabinet meeting – said the Annual General Meeting on May 29 will also go ahead remotely.

Cllr Keith Mans, county council leader, added: “These meetings will be webcast for the press and public to view in the usual way, through the County Council’s YouTube channel. We anticipate that further Council meetings will be scheduled in due course, according to business need, and giving proper consideration to the safety of Councillors, officers and members of the public.”