Burnham-on-Crouch's Remembrance Day commemorations will be slightly different than usual this year, as there will be no ceremony in the town council chamber.

There are usually receptions at the Burnham Baptist Church and the council chamber for residents after they have paid their respects at the war memorial on Remembrance Day.

But in a meeting of the town council last night (Tuesday, 21 September), Councillor Vanessa Bell, the town mayor, said a chamber reception this year would be unsafe due to Covid.

She said: "The room would be packed which is not safe from a Covid perspective, and we don't have anybody to provide refreshments."

Councillor Wendy Stamp, the leader of Maldon District Council, called the absence of a chamber reception this year "really quite sad".

"Remembrance is a massive thing," she added.

The Remembrance service at Burnham Baptist Church is nonetheless set to go ahead, with a small ceremony accompanied by wreath laying at the war memorial.

The war memorial was unveiled in the town in 1921, and commemorates 98 local servicemen who died in World War I.

Councillor Bell said: "The usual event that happens to make Remembrance is happening out there, but not in here.

"It will be the usual at the Church, the usual at the memorial - just not the usual in here."

She said that "things are underway" for the commemorations that will be going ahead to take place.

Councillor Bell's proposal to not have a chamber reception in the town this year was voted through by members at the end of the debate.

Three councillors voted in favour of the proposal, while two - Councillor Stamp and Councillor Duncan Rawlinson - voted against it.