14 May 2014
At the Full Council meeting at County Hall Chelmsford on Tuesday May 13th, it was agreed that all main meetings of Essex County Council, including Cabinet (1) and Full Council (2) would be open to the public asking questions at the start of the meetings.
Questions at Cabinet will be without notice, those at Council with notice.
It was also agreed that filming and recording and the use of social media would be allowed within agreed protocols (3).
This follows months of constructive negotiations between all the parties on Essex County Council to agree the procedures for this taking place.
Previously whilst the public could attend most meetings, they could not speak at any of the Cabinet or Full Council meetings at County Hall.
Cllr. James Abbott, Green Group Leader and County Councillor for Witham Northern said
“This is an issue we raised on day one of entering County Hall in May 2013.
As we stated at the meeting yesterday, Greens warmly welcome this agreement between all parties on the council and place on record our thanks to the outgoing Chairman for the work she did in supporting the process.
It has long been an out-dated practice not to allow the public to speak at main meetings. It was a key pledge we made in our Essex 2013 manifesto that the public – who are of course residents, taxpayers and voters – should be able to raise issues at meetings and question those making decisions on their behalf, within an agreed protocol."
Main points of the newly agreed arrangements:
(1) PUBLIC SPEAKING AT CABINET AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE MEETINGS
At the start of every Ordinary meeting of the Cabinet and Scrutiny Committees there will be a period of up to 15 minutes to enable members of the public to make representations on an item on the Agenda for that meeting.
On arrival and before the start of the meeting speakers should register with the member of staff collecting names specifying the agenda item they wish to speak on and the nature of their interest in the matter.
Statements should not be longer than three minutes and must be relevant to an item before the meeting. Any questions asked of the Cabinet must be asked within the 3 minute time limit.
(2) PUBLIC QUESTIONS AT COUNCIL
Before the beginning of every meeting of the Full Council there will be a period of up to 30 minutes to enable members of the public to ask questions.
Notice of questions: A question may be asked under this procedure only if it has been sent to the Head of Democratic Services by no later than 10.30 am seven days before the meeting.
Question paper: The clerk to the meeting will circulate prior to the meeting a copy of the question(s) submitted by members of the public to those present.
(3) PROTOCOL ON THE USE OF MEDIA TOOLS AT MEETINGS HELD IN PUBLIC
There will be a presumption in favour of allowing the use of media tools.
Filming and Audio Recording: Filming and audio recording of meetings, normally by representatives of the media but also by members of the public using small media tools, will generally be permitted provided that a request is submitted at least two working days before the meeting.
Other use of Media Tools. No restrictions will be placed on anyone in the public gallery at a meeting in relation to the use of twitter, blogs, facebook and still photography, provided that there is no flash photography and the Chairman does not consider their actions are disrupting the proceedings of the meeting.
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