Public Participation

You are able to address, comment, ask questions or submit a petition at meetings of the cabinet, the council and its committees (excluding the Planning Committee and the Overview and Scrutiny Committees as they have their own arrangements for consulting with the public) prior to the passing of a resolution to exclude the public.

Requirements

You must give written notice to the Democratic Services Department by 10am two working days before the meeting date (i.e. 10am Tuesday for a meeting on Thursday);
You must live or work in the borough;
Normally no more than three speakers per Agenda Item will be allowed.

Important

Speakers in registering to address the Planning Committee 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.

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 the 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.

What will happen at the meeting?

• Your address, comments or question must relate to an item on the meeting agenda and will be limited to three minutes
• In exceptional cases (relating to matters on which the cabinet, the council or its committees are required to act in a quasi judicial manner) it will not be possible to allow an address, make comments or ask questions
• The Mayor (or chairman) has overall responsibility for the smooth running of the meeting and has the final decision on procedural matters

More information on speaking at a public meeting or submitting a petition can be found at the following links:

Filming and recording of council meetings

You are able to film, audio record and take photographs of council meetings following publication of 'The Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014'. The council has issued guidance on filming and recording at public meetings.

Councillor complaints

If you wish to question or comment upon the conduct of individual officers or procedural matters, this should be done through the council's complaints procedure. If you wish to complain about an elected councillor this should be done through the councillor complaints procedure.