Public Participation at Meetings

Longwick cum Ilmer Parish Council meet and makes its decisions in public and invite members of the public and press to attend meetings and contribute within the public forum.

Parish Council’s meetings are not public meetings; they are meetings held in public and there is no requirement in law to provide an opportunity for the public to question the council however, we welcome residents to attend and raise questions on items on the agenda and 15 minutes is allocated for this prior to the Parish Council meeting.

Protocol

(Extracted from Parish Council Standing Orders)

Members of the public may make representations, answer questions and give evidence at a meeting which they are entitled to in respect of the business on the agenda.

The Period of time designated for public participation shall not exceed 15 minutes unless directed by the Chair of the meeting.

A member of the public shall not speak for more than 3 minutes.

Any questions raised shall not require a response at the meeting nor start a debate on the question. The Chair of the meeting may direct that a written or oral response be given.

A person shall raise his / her / their hand when requesting to speak.

A person who speaks at a meeting shall direct his / her / their comments to the Chair of the meeting.

Only one person is permitted to speak at a time. If more than one person wants to speak, the Chair of the meeting shall direct the order of speaking.