4. Guidance for speakers

Speakers can choose to either:

• speak in person for up to three minutes, or
• submit a speech of up to 400 words to be read by a competent Officer of the Council who is not part of the Planning department.

Attending in person to speak:

You do not need to submit your speech in advance if you are attending to speak but you should be aware the speech duration will be timed to three minutes.

Submitting a speech to be read for you:

Your speech must be:

• submitted by 10am on the morning of the meeting, to membersservices@ashford.org.uk and
• must be no longer than 400 words, in English and in a 12-point non-italic sans-serif font (e.g Arial). Any text over 400 words will not be read out.

You must consider the following regarding the content of your speech:

• An Officer reading any speech on behalf of any speaker shall have discretion to omit/edit out any inappropriate language, information or statements.
• If any defamation, insult, personal or confidential information, etc. is contained in any speech received from any speaker, and/or is read to a meeting by an Officer, each speaker accepts by submitting their speech to be fully responsible for all consequences thereof and to indemnify the Officer and the council accordingly.

The Laws of Slander

These laws are very strict.

If in public you say something about a person which is not true, even if you believe it to be true, you may be sued and have to pay compensation. Therefore, you need to be very careful about any criticism you wish to make of people.

Councillors are able to speak more freely and bluntly while in Council or Committee meetings than members of the public.

You, as a member of the public, do not have the same protection.