MARYPORT council meetings will not be moved from the town hall.

That was the decision last week when councillors debated a suggestion from new councillor Mark Hayhurst that some meetings could be held in different parts of the town to show people what the council was doing.

Mr Hayhurst was not at the meeting and councillor Billy Pegram suggested twice that the item should be deferred until he was there to explain his position.

His request was ignored, however, and councillors Carol Tindall and Peter Kendall won the day with their stance that the town hall was the registered place of business for the council and, therefore, the appropriate meeting place.

The council did agree to try, once more, to hold surgeries in the different wards.

This has been tried before with little success. Mr Kendall said it should be tried again, however,.

The surgeries have previously involved just the ward councillors but Councillor Linda Radcliffe said all councillors must be informed of all surgeries in the future.