Councillors are seeking to get permission from the Government to allow them to attend council meetings and vote from home.

At present councillors have to attend meetings in person and they can be held at council offices anywhere between Penzance and Saltash.

A motion set to be tabled at next week’s full council meeting is looking to change that and get permission from the Government for Cornwall Council to be a guinea pig for remote attendance and voting.

Liberal Democrat councillor Jesse Foot has put forward the motion which has been seconded by fellow Lib Dem Dominic Fairman.

Councillors say that the distances councillors have to travel to attend meetings are time-consuming, costly and bad for the environment. They also say it puts some people off standing for election.

The motion highlights that the Government first made a commitment to allow local councillors to attend meetings remotely 12 years ago but is “yet to deliver”.

Councillors will be asked to support the motion which “calls on central government to amend the 1972 Local Government Act and provide the resource needed to enable remote attendance at both voting and non-voting council meetings using appropriate technology to support inclusion by one and all”.

It also “asks that central government considers Cornwall Council as a pilot in the use of remote attendance and voting at meetings and that central government provides the resource to do so”.

If it were to go ahead there would have to be changes to how councillors vote at County Hall. At present all votes are carried out with councillors raising their hands or by responding to a roll call when named votes are requested.

Other local councils have already initiated electronic voting where councillors are able to press a button to make a decision with screens displaying results.

The motion states: “Cornwall Council is the largest unitary authority by population and the second largest by geography in the country. The peninsular geography of Cornwall creates many challenges for local representatives. Travel time and costs, the impact on the environment, poor public transport networks and fragile road networks with frequent collisions and diversions makes travelling to meetings impractical and deters many from pursuing public office.

“The geography of Cornwall restricts many from taking part in local democracy. Providing remote access and flexible ways of working raises productivity and lowers costs to the organisation. While private individuals, business, and councillors using private networks embrace new technology, the public sector falls far behind with its use of tech and expectation that representatives still engage in the same way they did in Victorian times.”

Cornwall Council will consider the motion when it meets on Tuesday (September 10).