An extract from Standing Orders section 1 regarding members of the public speaking at Full Council meetings.
| c Meetings shall be open to the public unless their presence is prejudicial to the public interest by reason of the confidential nature of the business to be transacted or for other special reasons. The public’s exclusion from part or all of a meeting shall be by a resolution which shall give reasons for the public’s exclusion. |
| e The period of time which is designated for public participation in accordance with Standing Order 1(d) above shall not exceed 15 minutes unless directed by the Chairman. |
| f Subject to Standing Order 1(e) above, each member of the public is entitled to speak in respect of business itemised on the agenda and shall not speak for more than 3 minutes unless directed by the Chairman. A member of the public who made an original deputation may be allowed to make further comments, but only at the specific invitation of the Chairman, during the discussion on the item on which the original deputation was made. |
| g In accordance with Standing Order 1(d) above, a question asked by a member of the public during their deputation at a meeting shall not require a response or debate. |
| h In accordance with Standing Order 1(g) above, the Chairman may direct that a response to a question posed by a member of the public be referred to a councillor or an employee for a written or oral response. |
| i A record of a public participation session at a meeting shall be included in the minutes of that meeting. |
| j An officer, councillor or advisor to the Council shall raise his hand when requesting to speak and stand when speaking. The Chairman (or person acting in that capacity) may at any time permit an individual to be seated when speaking. |
| k Any person speaking at a meeting shall address his comments to the Chairman. |
| l Only one person is permitted to speak at a time. If more than one person wishes to speak, the Chairman shall direct the order of speaking. |
