Attending A Parish Council Meeting
Hambleton Parish Council meets and makes its decisions in public and is committed to community engagement. We therefore invite members of the public, the press, the police and district councillors to attend meetings and contribute within the public forum.
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 a resolution which shall give reasons for the public’s exclusion.
Attendee Code of Conduct
This Code of Conduct has been written with guidance published by the National Association of Local Councils (NALC).
Members of the public are asked to respect the fact that meetings are to conduct Parish Council business and, therefore, interruptions during Parish Council business are not permitted. Members of the public are to remain seated in the public gallery as directed by the Clerk and must not approach the Parish Council bench or tables. If the business is disrupted in any way the person/s causing the disruption may be asked to leave.
Members of the public may make representations, answer questions and give evidence at a meeting which they are entitled to attend in respect of the business on the agenda and the matter may be addressed immediately or carried forward without discussion.
Public participation will be for a period of fifteen minutes, unless directed by the chairman of the meeting. Any member of the public wishing to speak should notify the Chairman or the Clerk prior to the start of the meeting.
The agenda will indicate when the public participation will take place. This will be early on in the agenda so that Parish Councillors may take into account any views expressed when reaching their decisions.
A maximum of five minutes is permitted for a member of the public to speak. Supplementary comments or questions are solely at the discretion of the Chairman.
A person shall raise their hand when requesting to speak and stand when speaking (except when a person has a disability or likely to suffer discomfort). The chairman of the meeting may at any time permit a person to be seated when speaking.
A person who speaks at a meeting shall direct their comments to the chairman of the meeting.
Only one person is permitted to speak at a time. If more than one person wants to speak, the chairman of the meeting shall direct the order of the speaking.
Photographing, recording, broadcasting or transmitting of proceedings of a meeting by any means is permitted under the Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014. The process will be governed by separate rules adopted by the Parish Council.
The press shall be provided with reasonable facilities for taking of their report of all or part of a meeting at which they are entitled to be present.
