FIND OUT HOW YOU CAN HAVE YOUR SAY! AT ANY MEETING OF THE COUNCIL
We want you to take part in decision making
Members of the public are welcome to attend meetings of the Council’s Committees and Panels to view proceedings and to speak under Have Your Say!
These are public meetings. Occasionally there may be the need to exclude the public from particular items of business, but this can only be done for certain specified types of information, such as commercially sensitive information, and where the Committee has specifically made a resolution to do so. These items are normally dealt with at the end of the meeting.
When and where are meetings held?
Meetings are usually held at 6pm at the Town Hall, Colchester.
The Meetings Calendar here can be used to check the date, time and venue of the meetings.
To find out what is being considered, you can check the contents of the agenda for each meeting which will be published 5 working days before each meeting date.
Are the meetings accessible?
There is wheelchair access to the Town Hall from the rear of the Town Hall off St Runwald Street. All meeting rooms used for public meetings contain an induction loop. Please ask staff for assistance.
What happens on arrival at the Town Hall
As is the case with a number of public buildings, there are some security procedures in place. Whilst the Town Hall is a public building, the Council is entitled to stipulate conditions of entry and it is a condition of entry that members of the public are searched on arrival. This is conducted by a member of the Council's Hall Keeping team. This may include a search of your person and bags with an electronic device or by hand. Please inform the Hall Keeping Team if you have a health condition.
The team will always include a female member. The team are Security Industry Authority trained and the searches are conducted in line with the relevant regulations.
Please note that placards, large bags, umbrellas, food and items that might disturb the meeting must be left in reception for collection on exit.
A full copy of the Admissions Policy can be read by clicking the link below.
Town Hall Admissions Policy
Once the security process is complete you will be directed to the meeting room and shown where to sit. Please remain in the public seating area and do not cross the roped barriers. Public participation at meetings is through the Have Your Say! process, further details of which are given below, so please do not call out or otherwise disturb the meeting.
Members of the Democratic Services team will be on hand to explain the Have Your Say! process.
There is limited capacity in the rooms used for meetings. Every effort is made to accommodate members of the public who attend and where there are more attendees than can be accommodated in the meeting room, then an overflow room where a stream of the meeting can be viewed or listened to will be set up.
Are the meetings live streamed?
A live video stream of our meetings is streamed to the Council’s YouTube page. A recordings is also available to watch afterwards.
Colchester City Council - YouTube
The exception to this is meetings of Full Council, which are held in the Council Chamber, which does not currently have the necessary equipment for a live video stream. A live audio stream is broadcast to the relevant meeting page on the website.
Can I take photographs and or/film the meeting?
Yes, attendees can take photographs and film the meeting but must do so discreetly and not disturb the meeting, for instance by using camera flash functions or moving around the meeting room. Devices should be set to silent. If another member of the public requests that they not be filmed we would ask that this be respected.
Can I leave the meeting part way through proceedings?
Yes, you are free to leave whenever you wish. However, if you do leave before the end, please do so quietly and avoid talking in the corridor outside the meeting room as that can disturb the proceedings.
How can I Have my Say?
You can Have Your Say| by attending the meeting in person or at some of our meetings it is possible to make your representations remotely via Zoom. The details for each meeting will be set out in the agenda. At each meeting up to eight members of the public may ask a question or make a statement on a matter within the terms of reference of that meeting.
If you wish to make representations you will need to register prior to the meeting. Please register by e-mailing democratic.services@colchester.gov.uk no later than 12 noon on the working day before the meeting date. You will need to provide your name, email address, whether your representation is a general matter or related to an item of business and a copy of the representation you wish to make, which must be no longer than 3 minutes (approximately 500 words).
You will receive an email to confirm receipt of your representation and once the deadline has passed will be contacted to confirm whether your representation has been accepted.
Questions or statements which have been accepted will normally be dealt with in the order they are received. However, the Chair may revise the order if they consider it appropriate and may group similar questions together.
A question or statement may be rejected by the Chair if it addresses matters that would be inappropriate to consider at the meeting. For this purpose, “inappropriate” includes any question or statement falling within any of the following categories:
- defamatory, frivolous, vexatious or offensive
- substantially the same as any question put to a meeting in the previous 6 months
- would require the disclosure of Confidential or Exempt Information as defined in the Access to Information Procedure Rules; or
- already the subject of a separate appeal, adjudication, litigation mediation or dispute resolution.
At the meeting, the Chair will invite speakers to make their representation or ask questions at the start of the meeting. You may speak for a maximum of three minutes. The Chair may then respond or invite another member of the Committee to respond. You may then speak for a further minute to respond.
The Chair of the meeting may disallow or terminate any public participation which is inappropriate, abusive, indecent, discriminatory, frivolous, irrelevant or otherwise unacceptable. This includes unacceptable references contained in written submissions.
Planning Committee
The arrangements for Have Your Say! at Planning Committee meetings are slightly different and further information can be found via the link below:-
Have Your Say! on Planning Applications, Public Rights of Way and certain highway matters.
Licensing Committee
The law does not allow you to Have Your Say! on specific applications and appeals made under licensing legislation as these are bound by legal requirements for inviting public objections. However, you are able to Have Your Say! on general matters relating to the work of the Licensing Committee and further information about this is available by emailing democratic.services@colchester.gov.uk.
Other ways to make your views known...
You can contact your local Councillor by using the contact details here or the relevant Cabinet member by contacting cabinetofficer@colchester.gov.uk
Our residents' panel is an opportunity for you to have your voice heard by the council. You will be able to input into a wide range of topics. You will also have the opportunity to tell us your views about the services and issues that matter to you, we will listen to your feedback and look for ways to improve. To find out more click on the link below:-
Colchester residents' panel · Colchester City Council
Petitions
If a number of people feel strongly about an issue over which the council has some control you may wish to compile a petition. A petition is defined as 'a clear statement of your point of view supported by one or more co-signatories'. A petition may be submitted online here or emailed to democratic.services@colchester.gov.uk.
How to contact us:
democratic.services@colchester.gov.uk.