The monthly meetings of the Town Council are open to the public and are held at the Chamber in Chapel Road.
The monthly meetings usually take place on a Tuesday or Wednesday at 7.30 pm, typically after the Planning Meeting which usually starts at 7.00 pm, which is also open to the public.
TO FIND OUT WHEN THE NEXT MEETING IS, GO TO THE TOWN CALENDAR.
While the public cannot take part in the main debate – as with Parliament this is done on your behalf by the elected Councillors – you can speak towards the end of the meeting, when you are free to ask questions.
Of course you can always raise concerns and contribute ahead of time by contacting a Town Councillor. If you want them to put an item on the Agenda for the next meeting, you must consult them at least 7 days before the next council meeting.
Most meetings have a ‘confidential’ agenda at the end of the meeting, from which the public is excluded. There is nothing sinister about this; it’s simply for the discussion of financial and legal matters that cannot be made public until the full facts are ready to be published. It is a legal requirement.
Those members of the public coming to the meetings and who are hard-of-hearing, please ask for help from the Chief Officer and you will be linked into the Chamber’s infra-red loop.
Full council meetings are now being recorded and the recordings are available this website. If you are present at a council meeting, you will be told you are being recorded. If you don’t want to be recorded, you will have to leave the meeting. If you stay, it will be assumed you have no objection to your words being recorded for the website.
The minutes to the council meetings are published here.