Public attendance at meetings
Attending and speaking at a council meeting
Attendance at meetings
Members of the public and the media can attend meetings of the full Council, Cabinet, and committees. Some parts of these meetings may be closed to the public if confidential or exempt information will be discussed. The press and public will be excluded on those occasions, and that part of a meeting will be held in private. The definition of exempt information is contained at article 28.17 of the Council's Constitution. The definition of confidential information is given at article 28.18.2.
Asking questions at a meeting
Anyone living in the Borough of Great Yarmouth may raise a question to the Leader of the Council or a cabinet member, at ordinary meetings of the Council and Cabinet. These can be on any matter of council business or issues which affect the Borough of Great Yarmouth.
A question may only be asked if notice has been given, by delivering it in writing or by electronic mail to the Corporate Services Manager at [email protected]. Please submit your question no later than midday, seven working days before the day of the meeting. See the details of all meeting dates.
Each question submission must include the name and address of the questioner and must name the member to whom it is addressed.
At any one meeting, no person may submit more than one question and no more than one question may be asked on behalf of one organisation. The total number of questions to be dealt with at any ordinary meeting of Council will be limited to five.
Questions that will not be permitted
The Corporate Services Manager or Monitoring Officer may reject a question if it:
- is not about a matter for which the Council has a responsibility, or which affects the Borough
- is defamatory, frivolous, or offensive
- is substantially the same as a question which has been put at a meeting of the Council in the past six months
- is likely to require the disclosure of confidential or exempt information
What happens at the meeting?
Questions will be asked in the order they were received, except when the Mayor may group together similar questions.
Questioners will be invited to attend the meeting at which their question will be considered, in order to present it to the member named in the notice. It is important that questioners ask the question exactly as submitted.
If a questioner who has submitted a written question is unable to attend, they may request that the Mayor presents the question on their behalf. In such circumstances, the Mayor may choose to ask the question on the questioner's behalf, indicate that a written response will be provided, or decide, in the questioner's absence, that the question will not be addressed.
After a member has replied to the original question, the questioner may, without prior notice, ask one supplementary question. The supplementary question must directly relate to either the original question or the member's response.
Should any questions remain unaddressed during public question time, either due to time constraints or the absence of the member to whom the question was directed, a written answer will be provided.
