Attending Meetings

Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Council is committed to involving its citizens in local democracy and the decision-making process.

You are welcome to attend any meetings of the Council or its Committees to listen to the debate.

The Council has equipment which can be used by people with impaired hearing to hear what is being said at committee meetings.

If you would like to use this equipment, please contact the committee services officer either in advance of the meeting you wish to attend or at the meeting prior to the commencement of business.

Calendar of meetings

The Council aims to deal with as much business as possible in the open part of the meeting. However, there are occasions when an agenda contains items which have to be discussed in private because they contain personal or sensitive information. Members of the public and press in attendance will be asked by the Committee Chairman to leave the meeting before these items are discussed.

Public participation at:

Council Meetings
Members of the public may ask questions of the Leader of the Council or a Chairman of a Policy Committee at any Ordinary Meeting of the Council, provided that the question is submitted to the Chief Executive in writing or by email no later than mid-day three days before the day of the meeting. Each question must give the name and address of the questioner and must name the Councillor to whom it is to be put.

Number of questions
Only one question per person or organisation is permitted at each meeting.

Scope of questions
The Chief Executive may reject a question if:

• It is not a matter that the Council is responsible for
• The matter referred to doesn’t affect the Borough
• The question is defamatory, frivolous or offensive;
• The question is substantively the same as a question put at a meeting of the Council within the past six months; or
• The question requires the disclosure of confidential information.

Record of questions
A Council officer will enter all questions into a book open to public inspection, and will immediately send a copy of the question to the Councillor to whom the question is to be put. An explanation will be recorded where a question has been rejected.

Copies of questions will be circulated to all Councillors prior to a meeting and will be made available to members of the public attending the meeting.

Asking the question
At an Ordinary Meeting of the Council, the Mayor will invite the questioner to put the question to the Councillor named in the notice. If a questioner who has submitted the question is unable to be present, they may ask the Mayor to put the question on their behalf.

Supplementary questions
A questioner who has put a question in person may also ask one supplementary question, without notice, to the Councillor who replied to his or her original question.

Written answers
Any question which cannot be dealt with during public question time either because of lack of time or the non-appearance of the Councillor to whom it was to be put will be dealt with by written answer.

Reference of a question to a Committee
Unless the Mayor decides otherwise, no discussion will take place on any question, although a Councillor may move that a matter raised by a question be referred to the appropriate Committee.

Public Speaking at Meetings

Planning Committee

Issued September 2005

Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Council is the Planning Authority for the Borough, and the Planning Committee considers all applications for planning permission which cannot be dealt with by officers of the Council under delegated powers.

This is a quasi-judicial process and decisions made by the Planning Committee are legally binding.

The Planning Committee consists of 16 elected Members. Meetings are held once a month at venues throughout the Borough and commence at 6.00pm. All Planning Committee meetings are open to the public.

Public Speaking

Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Council has allowed public speaking at Planning Committee meetings since July 1996. The intention is to assist the Councillors on the Committee to reach a decision. Public speaking is allowed in order to amplify representations that have already been made in relation to a particular planning application. Any written representations will be circulated to Members with their Committee agenda.

1. Speakers

All public speaking is at the discretion of the Chairman. However, under normal circumstances the following public speakers will be allowed in respect of each planning application:

• Up to 3 objectors
• One representative of the Parish Council, if it is objecting to the application
• One Councillor not on the Planning Committee. (Precedence will be given to ward councillors)
• The applicant, or his/her agent, and up to 2 supporters
• One representative of the Parish Council, if it is supporting the application

This is also the order in which speakers shall be called.

Speakers will be registered on a first come, first served basis, and anyone applying to speak after the 3 places available have been filled will be given the name(s) of the Ward Councillor(s), who may make representations on their behalf.

Only one speaker per household will be permitted.

2. Registration

The opportunity to speak in relation to an application is initially made available in neighbourhood consultation letters, although not all applications will be heard by the Planning Committee.

Anyone who has written to the Planning Department requesting to speak will be advised when a particular application is due to come to Committee by letter, which will normally be sent out one week before the date of the meeting. Anyone wishing to speak at the meeting will be asked to confirm their intention to speak to the Committee Services Officer no later than 12.00 noon on the day preceding the meeting. Only those who have already indicated their wish to speak in their written response to an application will be afforded the opportunity to do so. The Committee Services Officer will record those requests in the order in which they are received, and will enforce the procedure outlined above.

Requests will only be logged as above when they have been received by the Committee Services Officer. Requests made via the Planning Department will only be logged once they have been forwarded to the Committee Services Officer.

A transcript of the proposed representation – or at the very least, a list of the points likely to be raised – should be provided to the Committee Services Officer by no later than 4.30pm on the day of the Committee. It will then be circulated to Members in advance of the meeting. If this transcript has not been received by this time, the invitation to speak will be forfeited.

3. Time Allocation

Each speaker will be allowed two minutes in which to make their representations. However, if a speaker is representing a group of 10 or more concerned local residents (e.g. who have signed a petition which has been submitted to the Planning Department, or who have sent letters of objection to the Planning Department, concerning the particular application) that will be extended to 3 minutes.

Ward Councillors will have a maximum of three minutes to present their case, regardless of the numbers to be represented.

The allocation of time will be monitored by timer, and will be strictly enforced.

4. Content of Presentations

Speakers should ensure that, as far as possible, their statement relates only to planning policies and relevant considerations.

Matters which cannot be regarded as planning considerations include issues such as:

• Loss of personal view from the particular property
• Loss of property value
• That the development differs from that which the developer told you personally he was intending
• Disputes over land ownership
• Doubt over the integrity or motives of the applicant
• Objections to the principle of development where an outline planning permission exists

This is not an exhaustive list.

Public speakers should note that direct comments about anyone concerned in the planning process are not appropriate. Criticism, whether direct or implied, of individuals will be considered unreasonable behaviour (see note below).

The Chairman may seek to curb repetition of points made by an earlier speaker, or deviation from the matter being discussed.

5. Questions

Speakers may not question Committee Members or Council officers, or take any further part in the discussion of the application once they have made their representations.

Committee Members may question a speaker in order to clarify points he/she has made. Committee Members may not cross-examine a speaker, or question them on matters not related to their presentation.

6. Order of Business

Applications are normally heard in chronological order of the date when they were registered in the Planning Department. However, the order may be changed at the Chairman’s discretion to hear previously deferred items, or those generating significant public interest, at the beginning of the meeting.

7. Deferred Items

If an item has been deferred for a site visit or clarification, speakers will not be invited to make further representations unless the proposed development has changed significantly, and a further round of consultation has taken place. If changes undertaken are the direct result of requests made by Members, following an indication from the Committee that the scheme would be acceptable if those changes are made, no further opportunity to speak will be afforded on that item.

8. Site Visits

If the Committee decides that a site visit should be undertaken by the Standing Working Group, only the Members of that Working Group, the local Ward Member(s) and a representative of the Parish Council will be invited to attend. The applicant and/or his agent will be informed of the date in order that access to the site can be arranged. Objectors will not be informed of the site visit. No opportunity for speaking will be afforded to any individual, including the applicant or the Parish Council, at the site visit unless specifically requested by Members, with agreement by the Chairman to answer questions of fact.

9. Behaviour at Planning Committee Meetings

Any unreasonable or disruptive behaviour will lead to the removal of those persons from the meeting room, and/or the suspension of the meeting.

All those in attendance at the meeting must be aware that the purpose of the meeting is for Members of the Committee to make decisions on planning applications. Public Speaking procedures are intended solely to assist this process within the guidance set out above. Any unsolicited comment from the public seating area is likely to be viewed as disruptive.

NOTE: The above procedures may be waived by the Committee, or spokespersons for the Committee, in exceptional circumstances e.g. applications having a strategic, Borough-wide importance. Numbers of persons wishing to speak shall not, in its own right, constitute an exceptional criterion. In these exceptional circumstances, a maximum time limit will be applied to public speaking. This time limit will be indicated no later than one week in advance of the Committee meeting, and those intending to speak will be encouraged to co-ordinate their representations in order to fit within the time limit and to avoid repetition of points.

Town Committee

Town Committee meetings feature a 15 minute public question time session at the beginning of each meeting of that Committee.

Members of the public wishing to ask a question of any Councillor serving on Town Committee; must submit that question in writing or by email to the Chief Executive no later than noon on the day preceding the meeting.

The question must relate to the business of Town Committee.

The rules of Town Committee public question time are broadly the same as those governing the submission of questions for consideration at Ordinary Meetings of the Council.