Rules of Public Speaking
Note: These rules do not override Council Procedure Rule
24(1).
Who can make a speech to the Committee?
1. Those who have written either in support of
or against a planning application which is to be considered by
Planning Committee, will have the opportunity to speak on that
application, subject to the following criteria:-
Those who can speak will comprise
-
a. Applicant/Agent/those in favour of approval
– for applications recommended for approval, the ability to speak
will only be granted if there is a member of the public speaking in
favour of refusal (to ensure a balance of views is put to the
Committee) (Applicants/agents will take priority in this
instance).
For applications recommended for refusal, only the applicant or
their agent will be permitted to speak in favour of approval.
b. Objector (only if they are a resident of
Thanet); for applications recommended for refusal, the ability to
speak will only be granted if there is a member of the public
speaking in favour of approval (to ensure a balance of views is put
to the Committee)
c. Town Council/Parish Council representatives
(TDC Planning Committee Members will not be permitted to take this
slot); and
d. Ward Councillors – Council Procedure Rule
24(1).
Public speaking will be limited as follows:-
a. Only one slot is available for those in
favour, for those against and the Parish/Town Council
representative. Speaking slots are offered on a first come, first
served basis.
b. Those who have missed the opportunity to
speak will be given the details of their Ward Councillor(s). The
Committee Clerk will forward the contact details of members of the
public who are speaking on applications to the relevant Ward
Councillor(s) for their information/assistance.
The Ward Councillor(s) can either direct those who were
unsuccessful to the appointed speaker to enable affected persons to
make a co-ordinated response or the Councillor can choose to appear
before the Committee themselves under Council Procedure Rule
24(1).
Members of the public will be
informed that their contact details may be given out if more than
one person wishes to speak. It will then be their decision if they
wish to proceed.
c. If the
applicant/agent wishes to speak, he or she will be given preference
over other speakers in favour of approval.
d. If an
application is recommended for approval there will be no speakers
in favour unless there is a speaker against the application (to
ensure a balance of views is put to the Committee).
e. If an
application is recommended for refusal there will be no speakers
against unless there is a speaker in favour of the application (to
ensure a balance of views is put to the Committee).
f. Where a site
inspection is recommended by the officers, no public speaking will
take place until the following Planning Committee where the final
decision will be made.
g. If Members
decide to overturn an officers recommendation of a site visit, the
application will be deferred and brought back to the next Committee
to enable public speaking to take place.
h. If a site
inspection is approved by Members after public speaking has taken
place (contrary to officer’s recommendation), no public speaking
will be permitted at the following Committee where the final
decision will be made. (members of the public will still have the
opportunity to make verbal representations at the site
inspection).
i. In the case of
the submission of petitions, the right to speak will only be
granted if it is clear that there is a head petitioner. Usually
this will require the submission of an accompanying letter so there
is clearly an individual to contact to offer the opportunity of
public speaking to.
j. No statement
will exceed three minutes, at the conclusion of their statement the
speaker shall return to the public gallery immediately. Speakers
will not be permitted to table any information or present
photographs during the course of the meeting (they will be advised
of how to send additional information to Members of the Committee
before the meeting is held).
k. Members may not
ask questions of, or enter into debate with the speaker during the
course of the meeting (members of the public will receive an advice
note to ensure that they are aware of how best to use their time
and how to ensure Members have a clear picture of the
situation).
l. A member of the
public will be given priority to speak on one application only.
Should they wish to speak on more than one application they will be
placed on a reserve list until such time as the deadline for
requests has passed. Provided no other members of the public have
indicated a wish to speak they may take the slot.
m. Speakers will
not be permitted to ask questions of or criticise Members or
officers of the Council whilst making their speech (the advice
leaflet will contain a reference to the laws of slander to ensure
speakers are aware that they must not make inappropriate statements
about any particular individual).
Registering to speak
2. Those that have
made written representations on a planning application will have
the right to make a speech at Planning Committee, in addition, the
applicant/agent will have the opportunity to speak in accordance
with the notes above.
3. In order to
have a right to speak, those making written representations must
have done so by noon on the Friday before the agenda is despatched.
Invitations will be mailed to those that have made representations
by no later than 5:00pm on the Tuesday, one week prior to the
Committee meeting.
4. On receipt of
that letter, those wishing to speak must telephone the Committee
Clerk and register their request by no later than noon on the
Monday before the Planning Committee. Once the closing date and
time for registering a wish to speak has passed, no additions will
be permitted to the list of speakers.
5. On the evening
of the meeting, speakers who have registered must report to the
Committee Clerk no later than 6:40pm in the Committee Room. A
designated seating area will be provided for those wishing to speak
and the Clerk will provide the speakers with a final explanation of
procedure and will answer any questions they may have at 6:45pm (a
full explanation of procedure will be provided to assist members of
the public in advance of the meeting).
The conduct of the Planning
Meetings
6. Public speaking
will be limited to the schedule of Planning Applications only and
resultant site inspections.
7. The meeting
will commence with site inspections from the previous meeting.
Members of the public, Parish/Town Council will speak first (only
if site inspection arose from officer recommendation), the Ward
Councillor (if present) and then debate will take place as usual.
This will continue until all of the site inspections have been
considered.
8. Members will be
provided with Members’ notes (similar to those used at meetings of
the full Council) to illustrate who will be speaking on site
inspections and which schedule items have been reserved for public
speaking.
9. Before the
schedule is considered, Chairman will ask Members to strike through
the applications which have been reserved for public speaking in
their agenda (for clarity).
10. The Committee
will take all of the items on the schedule which have been reserved
for public speaking first.
11. Reserved items
(for public speaking) will be taken in order, unless the Committee
agrees otherwise and speakers will be invited to make their
statements in turn.
12. The order of
speaking for both site inspections and schedule items will be as
follows:
i.
Applicant/Agent/ those in favour;
ii. Objectors
iii. Town Parish
Council (if appropriate); and
iv. Ward
Councillor(s) – Council Procedure Rule 24(1)
13. Speakers can
read from prepared statements, but cannot distribute or display
material. Once the speaker has concluded their statement (or the
bell has rung) they will be asked to return to the public gallery.
Members may not ask questions of, or enter into debate with the
speaker during the course of the meeting.
14. Any Members
attending the Committee meeting under Council Procedure Rule 24(1)
will be invited to speak when the public speaking, if any, has
concluded. The Committee will then debate the application based on
the seconded proposal in the usual way.
15. The Committee
will only consider the application on planning grounds and will not
take into consideration non-planning issues. Members of the public
can seek advice from the Planning Department on what is considered
a planning ground, this will prevent confusion and will assist them
in making best use of their three minute time slot.
16. The
Chairman will have the discretion to halt the public should they
begin to stray from planning grounds or make inappropriate or
offensive statements;
17. Once this
process is complete, public speaking has concluded for the
meeting.
18. The Chairman
will then refer the Committee back to the schedule to run through
the remainder of the schedule items (if any). He will call upon the
Planning Officer to read through those items remaining on the
schedule and if a Member wishes to reserve an item they should call
out as he reads (usual practice). If all of the applications on the
schedule were reserved for public speaking the Chairman will move
on to the next item which is usually Enforcement of Planning
Control and the remainder of the agenda will be taken in the usual
way