Questions at council meetings

You can also email or write to us with your question.

Your question needs to:

• be no more than 200 words
• include your name and address
• include the name of the councillor your question is addressed to - often the leader of the council, a member of the Cabinet or the chair of a committee

We need to receive your question by 12pm, 3 clear working days before the meeting is due to take place.

The day of the meeting and the day we receive your question do not count as clear working days, so if the meeting takes place on a Thursday, the question must be received no later than 12pm the previous Friday.

We will accept most questions as they are written, but occasionally we will edit questions to make them shorter and clearer.

We will only reject a question if we feel it is inappropriate or it has been asked at a council meeting in the last 6 months.

You can ask up to 2 questions at a meeting. You can also ask a supplementary question for each question asked.

At the meeting

At the meeting, we will give you a typed copy of your question. The process for asking your question will be:

1. The chair will invite you to address your question to the councillor you nominated.
2. You need to read the question as it is written – you cannot change or add to it.
3. The councillor will offer a reply.
4. You can ask one further supplementary question, as long as it relates directly to your original question or the councillor’s response.

Other people at the meeting will not discuss the question, response or supplementary question.

More information

You can read more information on the procedure for public questions at Council meetings in Rule 10 of the Rules of Procedure from our Constitution