Leighton-Linslade annual parish meeting rescheduled after Microsoft Teams glitch causes last-minute cancellation of first attempted online gathering

Leighton Buzzard and Linslade residents had expected to be able to join the town council's meeting from the comfort of their own homes on Monday (March 15), but "gremlins" forced its postponement.

The event had been due to be held online for the first time because of the ongoing pandemic and was also to be live-streamed to the town council’s Facebook page (LLTC Official).

But as councillors and officers began to log in ahead of the 7.30pm start, problems became apparent as despite using the same meeting link they found themselves in several different meeting "rooms".

A council spokesman said: "Due to worldwide Microsoft Teams issues, the meeting, which was originally scheduled for Monday, 15 March, could not take place. This was entirely beyond the control of the town council."

"It wasn’t until about 7.45pm, after some quick internet research, that we realised there was a major worldwide issue. Reluctantly we had to take the decision to postpone and a message went out within minutes to the live Facebook event."

The meeting will now be held on Monday, March 22 at the same time of 7.30pm - which means there is still time to get involved.

The annual parish meeting takes place every March and is an opportunity to find out what the town council has been doing and to ask any questions you may have.

The spokesman said: "We would like to invite residents to watch or join the meeting – to view our short video about what we do and to ask any questions on matters the town council is responsible for (parks, play areas, allotments, cemeteries, market, community events, grants, sports facilities and the Teenage Advice and Information Centre)."

Residents can ask a question in advance by visiting www.leightonlinslade-tc.gov.uk. The website shows the details if you’d like to join the meeting and ask a question. If you prefer, you can watch the live event on Facebook.

The spokesman added: "If we can’t answer the question on the night, we will publish the questions and answers afterwards on our website. We’ll also be publishing our review of 2020 video to our YouTube channel after the meeting.

"This year you can watch or take part in the meeting from your own home – please join us to find out more about what we do and to ask any questions."

Microsoft Teams went down for around four hours last Monday, alongside other Microsoft 365 services. Microsoft blamed the issues on “a recent change to an authentication system”.

Microsoft now has 115 million people using its Microsoft Teams communications app every day. The service has grown rapidly during the pandemic, as students and businesses moved online for remote working and learning.