Public questions to Full Council meetings
1. Introduction
Members of the public are welcome to attend meetings of Full Council, and its Committees, except when the meetings are considering items classed as ‘confidential’ or ‘exempt’. Those matters that may be considered as confidential or exempt are set out in the Access to Information Procedure Rules in the Council’s Constitution. If you would like to attend a meeting, or would like further details of a meeting, you are advised to contact our Democratic Services Team democratic.services@hartlepool.gov.uk to confirm details of the meeting.
2. Full Council meetings
The Council’s Constitution states that during a period of 30 minutes, or a longer period at the discretion of the Chair, residents of Hartlepool may ask questions of Chairs of Committees at ordinary meetings of Full Council in accordance with the Council’s Procedure Rules.
You can ask a question by completing a Public Question Time form attached to this guide (Appendix 1). The form must be delivered in writing or by electronic mail to the Chief Executive no later than noon on the Thursday of the week before the meeting (or in the case of a meeting held otherwise than on a Thursday, on the expiry of the fifth clear working day before the meeting). Alternatively, if you would prefer to send your question by e-mail, send it to democratic.services@hartlepool.gov.uk, you must include the name and address of the questioner.
If the questioner is under 16 years of age, the notice must include the name, address and signature of the parent or guardian of the questioner.
At any one meeting no person may submit no more than 2 questions but a question may consist of a number of parts.
A question should fulfil the following criteria:
- i) The question should be concise (both in length and number of parts), direct and should be about a matter that the Local Authority has a responsibility or which affects the Borough;
- ii) The question should not be the same as one asked at Full Council in the last six months (unless there has been a significant change in circumstances)
The Chief Executive, in consultation with the Chair of the Council, may reject a question if it is considered to be
- defamatory, frivolous or offensive,
- seeks the disclosure of confidential or exempt information,
- is substantially the same as a question which has been put at a meeting of the Council in the past six months and since when there has been no change of circumstances justifying the resubmission of the question,
- is unreasonably excessive because of its length or its number of parts,
Copies of all questions will be circulated to all Elected Members and will be made available at the meeting.
Any question which cannot be dealt with during public question time, either because of lack of time or because of the non-attendance of the Chair to whom it was to be put, will be dealt with by way of a written answer.
Full Council meetings are usually held at 6:30pm in the Council Chamber, Civic Centre, Victoria Road, Hartlepool. Dates of Council Meetings and any further information can be obtained from the Democratic Services Team, or from the Council’s website.
3. Committees and Sub Committees
All meetings of the Council’s committees are open to the public to attend except when the meetings are considering items classed as ‘confidential’ or ‘exempt’. These meetings may consider issues that will be of interest to residents who may wish to ask questions or express their views on the matters being considered. On such occasions anyone wishing to speak at a committee meeting should seek the permission of the Chair in advance of the meeting.
This can be done directly with the Chair or via the Democratic Services Team: democratic.services@hartlepool.gov.uk
4. Planning Committee
There are different rules applying to public speaking at Planning and Licensing Committee. “A Guide to Public Speaking at Planning Committee” is available on the Council’s website. Essentially, only applicants and registered objectors to planning applications can speak at those meetings.
For more guidance contact the Development Control Team: developmentcontrol@hartlepool.gov.uk
5. Licensing Committee
Licensing Committee considers licensing and other applications in accordance with the Licensing Act 2003 and other matters, i.e. gambling etc..Individual licensing applications are dealt with by the Licensing Act Sub Committee and if you wish to speak at a meeting of the sub committee in relation to an application that affects you, you should contact the Public Protection Team: licensing@hartlepool.gov.uk