The council must make and publish arrangements for its meetings to ensure they can take place in a manner which enables people who are not in the same place to meet.

Under these arrangements, meetings must be capable of being held remotely (multi-location meetings) but meetings are not required to be held in a particular way.  Whether they are held remotely or entirely face to face is a matter for the council to determine.

The council is required by law to ensure that meeting participants (councillors, invited guests, members of the public and press) are able to join meetings remotely even if physical face to face meetings are the preferred mode.  The council is not permitted to resolve that all of its meetings (this includes committee and sub-committee meetings) will be held entirely on a physical face to face basis.

All council meetings (including committee and sub-committee meetings) will take place in a manner which enables participants who are not in the same place to meet, with the minimum requirement that council members are able to hear and be heard by other meeting participants.

Notice of meetings

At least three clear days (not including the days of issue and meeting) before a council meeting takes place, or if the meeting is convened at shorter notice, at the time it is convened, a notice of the time and place of the meeting will be displayed on this website and the council’s public notice board.  However, the chairman of a committee or sub-committee can call a meeting at 24 hours’ notice if a matter to be discussed is considered to be urgent.

Details of the council’s meeting arrangements are published on this website and public notice board.  Please scroll down this page to view the schedule of up and coming meetings.

Admission to meetings

The Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 Section 1, extended by the Local Government Act 1972 Section 100, provides that meetings of the council (including committees and sub-committees) shall be open to the press and public.

If you wish to attend a particular meeting please use our contact form by clicking here or you can telephone the council office during normal working hours.

A range of options will be afforded to you to attend in person at the main meeting venue or remotely (by electronic invitation or telephone) if desired.

Occasionally during meetings provision is made for excluding the press and public by resolution when confidential business is being considered (or for other special reasons stated in the resolution) and publicity would be prejudicial to the public interest.  As a general rule items such as staffing matters, tendering decisions, contractual negotiations, legal proceedings and sensitive issues or disputes would not be discussed in public.

Public participation

The council is required to facilitate public participation at its full council meetings.  This does not mean that members of the public can take part in debate, but they must be given a reasonable opportunity at the beginning of the meeting to ask questions and make representations about the business to be discussed or transacted at the meeting and which is open for public discussion (confidential business is excluded).  The person presiding over the full council meeting (normally the chairman) must give members of the public in attendance a reasonable opportunity to ask questions and make representations about any business to be discussed at the meeting, unless doing so is likely to prejudice the effective conduct of the meeting.  Public participation at full council meetings does not apply to committee and sub-committee meetings

Council Meeting Schedules

Detailed below is a list of the council’s up and coming meetings.  An agenda containing the meeting papers will appear next to the relevant meeting five days before it is due to take place. These are available for download.