Making representations at council meetings

Overview

At most council meetings members of the public can make representations to councillors by asking a question, making a statement or presenting a petition.  Different names are used at meetings to describe the part of the meeting for making representations:

•  Full council - representations from local residents

• Cabinet and scrutiny - public forum

• Regulatory including Development Control - public representations

Important

In making representations notice must be given (in writing) with details of name and address, and a copy of the question / statement / petition must be supplied by the deadline mentioned on this page.

How can I notify the council I want to make a representation?

Notice of representations can be made by letter, email or fax. Full contact details are at the foot of this page.

To whom should I notify that I want to make a representation?

Your representation should be sent to the council officer who is named on the published agenda for the meeting. If you do not know the name of the relevant council officer, please use the contact details listed.

To whom should I address my representation?

For questions to full council or cabinet meetings, these should be addressed to the councillor (normally an executive member) who has responsibility for responding.  Questions for committee meetings are normally addressed to the chair.  The names of the councillors concerned can be found in the councillor finder pages of this website or obtained from Democratic Services.

Statements and petitions to any meeting need not be addressed in this way.

Any form of representation can only be made it it relates to the terms of reference of the relevant committee or the responsibility of the councillor concerned.  In the majority of instances, the responsible councillor will be an executive member, or the chair of the relevant development control committee.  A chair of a scrutiny commission can only respond to matters within that commissions remit, which is primarily related to the scrutiny of the executive - see the constitution for further details about this.

What can the representations be about?

(1) Representations to full council may be about any matter for which Bristol City Council has a responsibility or which affects the city.

(2) Representations to cabinet meetings should be about matters which are the responsibility of the council's executive.

(3) Representations to committee meetings must be matters which fall within their areas of responsibility/terms of reference.

In (2) and (3) representations should, so far as possible, relate to items on the published agenda but need not do so.

Other ways of having your say

Making a representation before a council meeting is just one way you can raise issues with councillors.  Instead of making a representation, you may prefer to raise an issue direct with an executive member, senior officer of the council or your local councillor.

• Contact your local councillor - Use councillor finder if you are unsure of your local councillors' details.

• Contact a member of the management team at the council

• Consultation finder - all the council's consultations in one place on the web.  In making decisions, the council is committed to consultation and has a consultation strategy.  An effective way to have your say is to take part in one of the council's consultations. Consultations have start and closing dates, so it is a good idea to frequently visit consultation finder on this web site. This lists details of past, present and forthcoming consultations by geographic area and topic.

Notice required and time limits (Please also refer to the specific agenda for each meeting)

The council bodies to which you can make a representation are listed below together with the notice required and time limits.  Please note that for all meetings other than development control committees, all submissions are normally taken together at the start of the meeting.

For development control committees, submissions relating to specific planning applications are heard prior to the consideration of each application.  At these meetings, a maximum time of 3 minutes per person is normally allowed for presentations (although this can be varied at the chair's discretion, depending on the number of submissions received).

Explanatory note - public forum questions:  by 'clear working days', we mean 5.00 p.m. on the last working day preceding the requisite number of days before the meeting - please see the respective meeting agendas for clarification of the exact deadline date/time for questions.

What happens when I ask a question at a meeting?

• If you wish to ask a question(s), for which you would like a written response, you must give 6 clear working days notice for full council meetings and 3 clear working days notices for all other meetings.  For council meetings only questions will be printed and published with the agenda and reports (these are published 5 clear working days in advance of a meeting).  We aim to make agendas and reports available on our web site 3 days before the start of the meeting.

• A written reply to your questions will then be given at the meeting (and copies made available in the meeting room one hour before the start), and will be included in the minutes (in the case of full council and commission / committee meetings).

• Supplementary questions arising directly out of the original questions (without notice) may then be asked at the meeting.

• Persons wishing to ask questions as part of their statements may do so, but they will not necessarily receive an answer, neither will there be a record of the response.

What will happen to my representations once I have given notice?

Any representations received (i.e. statements / petitions) will be copied (if they are of reasonable length), and made available in the meeting room one hour before the start of the meeting, and supplied to relevant councillors, press and public.

All representations are printed in the order they are received.

When I make representations at a meeting, what will happen?

You will need to be at the meeting at the time published on the agenda and sit in the seats allocated for the public. If you are making a representation, please make yourself known to a council officer in the meeting.

Full council

The Lord Mayor will invite members of the public:

• presenting petitions to read out the petition and indicate how many persons have signed it;

• making statements to read these out (but on occasions s/he may ask for these to be taken as 'read', or, if there are a number of representations about the same matter, to allow one spokesperson to make a statement;

• asking questions, to ask any supplementary questions (and for the relevant executive member or chair of a committee to give an answer).

The time limit for petitions, statements and questions from the public is 30 minutes.

Cabinet

The amount of time allocated to public forum is 1 hour and the manner in which representations are dealt with is at the discretion of the executive member to whom the representations have been addressed.

Scrutiny commissions / other committees

The chair will invite members of the public:

• presenting petitions to read out the petition and indicate how many persons have signed it;

• making statements to read these out (but on occasions s/he may ask for these to be taken as 'read', or, if there are a number of representations about the same matter, to allow one spokesperson to make a statement;

• asking questions, to ask any supplementary questions (and for the chair of a committee to give an answer).

The time limit for public forum is 30 minutes.

Presenting statements

Members of the public are encouraged when making statements, not to read out the full text but to summarise their presentation and focus on the key points which they wish to draw to councillors' attention.

Please note that for copyright reasons, we are unable to reproduce or publish newspaper or magazine articles which may be attached to statements as supporting documentation.

What will happen to my representations after I have made them?

Full Council

Once representations have been made, the full council will decide:

1. that the petition / statement be noted; or
2. that the contents of the petitions / statement be considered when the item is debated (if the content relates to a matter on the agenda); or
3. that the petitions / statement be referred (as appropriate) to the leader of the council or the relevant executive member for further consideration or committee chair and a response.

Scrutiny commissions and other committees

Once representations have been made, the scrutiny commission or committee will decide:

1. that the petition / statement be noted or
2. that the contents of the petitions / statement be considered when the item is debated (if the content relates to a matter on the agenda; or
3. that the petitions / statement be referred (as appropriate) to the leader of the council;  the relevant executive member or relevant chief officer for appropriate action.

Cabinet

The relevant executive member will decide what response (and how) is given.  In some cases, an oral response is given at the meeting.

Development Control Committees)

Representations made at the meeting will be noted and taken into consideration when the planning application is determined.

What is the council's policy on retaining the personal information which you receive with my representation?

By participating in public forum business, it will be assumed that your consent is given to the recording of your name and the details of your submission in the documentation that is circulated to committee and made available at the meeting itself.  The information will also be placed in the official minute book as a public record (and is available for inspection upon request with the other documents for the meeting concerned).

Where appropriate, we will endeavour to remove other personal details such as contact details.  However, because of time constraints we cannot guarantee this and you may therefore wish to consider if your statement contains information that you would prefer not to be in the public domain.  Submissions will not be posted on the Council's website.

Other committee papers may be placed on the council's website and information contained within them may be searchable on the internet.

Please note that for copyright reasons, we are unable to reproduce or public newspaper or magazine articles that may be attached to statements as supporting paperwork.

Webcasting of meetings

Public forum participants are advised that all full council and cabinet meetings and some other committee meetings are now filmed for live or subsequent broadcast via the council's webcasting pages.  The whole of the meeting is filmed except where there are confidential or exempt items and the footage will be on our website for 6 months.

If you ask a question or make a representation, then you are likely to be filmed and will be deemed to have given your consent to this.

Leader's Forward Plan/Decision making process

When the cabinet take a key decision, information must be published on the leader's forward plan. In the forward plan there is a deadline by which comments and observations should be made, in advance of a decision being taken.

Any representations about a future decision should be made within the published time table.

Committees to which you cannot make representations

Under the council's constitution, representations cannot be made to the following council bodies:

• Appeals Committee

• Outside Bodies Committee

• Selection Committee

Further reading

We suggest you visit these pages on our web site before making a representation.

• Attending meetings

• How decisions are made

• Leader's forward plan