TAVISTOCK town councillors are calling for more hot air at their meetings after complaints that some of them are struggling to cope with the winter weather.

Councillors have given their showpiece Butchers Hall the thumbs down as a meeting room because it is too cold and they struggle to hear what other members are saying. One experienced councillor said decisions made during a budget meeting in the revamped hall had probably been affected by the low temperature.

Even the town hall has been pronounced as uncomfortable because council staff have been forced to leave windows open to help disperse the possibility of Covid-19 virus gathering in the building.

Their tales of woe were told as councillors mulled over where they want to hold their meetings as the threat from Covid-19 recedes.

Councillors had set up virtual meetings during the height of the pandemic, but gradually returned to face to face sessions either in the town hall, Butchers Hall or the council’s chambers as coronavirus restrictions were gradually lifted.

At present, councillors attend meetings wearing masks when they are standing up and moving around whichever venue they are in, but they remove them when they are sitting and having a debate. To make sure everyone can hear them, they use a central microphone.

The full council meets in the town hall, while the budget and policy committee and development management and licensing committees hold their sessions in the Guildhall courtroom and council chambers respectively.

Councillors want to continue ‘face to face’ meetings and have asked their officers if they will be able to fit everybody into the Guildhall for full meetings and still follow Covid-19 social distancing recommendations.

Veteran town councillor Harry Smith commented the authority had said it would use the Guildhall, recently restored partly due to Heritage Lottery funding, as a venue for its meetings. It was Butchers Hall he didn’t feel was suitable.

He said, referring to one committee meeting in Butchers Hall: ‘I don’t think we made the best decisions we could have because it was so cold. The courtroom has a wonderful sound system and we did say to Heritage Lottery that it would be used for meetings.’

Councillors, who were told that virtual meetings, brought in as an emergency during the worst of the pandemic were no longer legal, were in favour of face to face sessions. Deputy mayor Ursula Mann said she believed they had to learn to live with the virus and pointed out that shop workers and teachers did so every day. She did, however, appeal for more heating in the town hall and added: ‘I am constantly shivering in this place and Butchers Hall.’

Town clerk Carl Hearn, in a report, said: ‘The council has, to date, primarily made use of the town hall and Butchers’ Hall subject to availability. However, bookings in the town hall have been limited by virtue of public usage/bookings and the Butchers’ Hall is considered by some a less attractive option, more especially during the winter months.’

Members will hear whether the Guildhall will be suitable for full council meetings following a risk assessment by officers.