What happens in Committee meetings
Committee meetings are where all the major decisions for the council are taken, we will publish:
- in advance when key decisions will be taken
- meeting papers at least five working days beforehand
- the minutes of the meetings, summarising decisions
The Council's calendar of meetings
The Council's calendar of meetings for 2024/25 was approved by Council on 14 December 2024.
For more information please visit Calendar of Meetings.
Leader Taking Decisions During the Covid-19 Outbreak (05/04/20 to 26/11/20)
During Lockdown the Leader of the Council has been taking some Executive decisions which would normally have been carried out by the Cabinet.
Decisions were made under the heading 'Leader Taking Decisions During the Covid-19 Outbreak' and detailed the business to be taken by him, and when.
The reports would normally have been taken to the Cabinet and were provided to all Members and published on the Internet for information, however, any item which was deemed confidential was still excluded from the press and public because it contained confidential information of exempt information under Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972. In those cases the report was provided for information purposes.
Decisions taken by the Leader under the above circumstances were still subject to Call-In by elected Members and if no Call-in was received, the decisions were brought into force on the expiry of 5 working days after the publication of the decision and those decisions can be found under the Leader Taking Decisions During the Covid-19 Outbreak.
Chief Executive Taking Non-Executive Decisions Under Emergency Powers (16/04/20 - 24/3/21)
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Non-Executive decisions were taken by the Chief Executive exercising his emergency powers.
Details of those decisions taken can be found under the 'Chief Executive Taking Non-Executive Decisions Under Emergency Powers'.
Decisions were only taken after the Chief Executive had consulted with each Group Leader who would have taken into account any representations made by the Members from their group.
The reports which would normally be taken to Council or Committees were provided to all Members and placed on the Internet for information, however, any report which would normally be excluded from the press and public because it contained confidential information or exempt information under Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 would have remained exempt from publication but the title of the report was provided for information purposes.
The Decision Notices (Minutes) were published and can be found under the 'Chief Executive Taking Non-Executive Decisions Under Emergency Powers'.
Attending Council Meetings
Members of the public can attend any Council meeting.
There is a facility to ask a question at full Council at public question time and if you do so, and it is accepted, you can ask the question at the meeting or the Mayor can on your behalf.
Speaking at planning meetings
You may speak at a planning committee meeting if you are directly affected by planning application proposals.
Visit the speaking at planning meetings page for more information.
New rights to report council meetings
New rights have now been introduced which will help members of the public find out how decisions are made.
These rights allow you to:
use modern technology and communication methods such as filming, audio-recording, blogging and tweeting to report the proceedings of the meetings of your council and other local government bodies and see information relating to significant decisions made outside meetings by officers acting under a general or specific delegated power
The Open and accountable local government guide has been published to help you understand the changes and exercise your rights.
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