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ACCESS TO MEETINGS AND INFORMATION

General Rights

Members of the public have the right to:

• attend meetings of the Council and its committees

• at least 5 clear days notice of any meeting where decisions will be made. In practice, most meetings are scheduled well in advance and printed on the website or on posters at council buildings.

• see copies of the public agenda and reports which are available for inspection at the Town Hall at least 5 clear days before the meeting and on the website.
  
  
• The record of decisions made are published between 2 and 5 days after the meeting and will appear on the website. This will not include exempt or confidential information. Minutes and reports are available for inspection up to six years after the meeting.

• find out from the Mayor’s Forward Plan what Key Decisions will be taken by the Mayor and when;

• attend the monthly meetings of the Cabinet;

• attend the Mayor’s fortnightly ‘Mayoral Proceedings'. The Mayor has decided that he will take decisions at these meetings in public. Reports, background papers and the subsequent decisions made are publicly available provided they do not contain exempt or confidential information. Even where this is the case, the Council will make every effort to disclose as much information as possible and will only withhold the specific parts of the reports or decisions, which fall into one of the exempt categories.

• see reports on Officer Key Decisions. These decisions are taken in private. However, reports made are publicly available in advance, and the decision is published and subject to call-in in the normal way.

• inspect the Council’s accounts and make their views known to the external auditor.