Horsham District Council praised for reviewing rules which allow members of the public to ask questions at meetings

At the moment, people are only allowed to ask questions at ordinary meetings such as cabinet, committees and full council, and only if they relate to the business on the agenda.

No other subjects are allowed – and they are not allowed to speak at all during extraordinary meetings.

The issue was discussed during a meeting of the governance committee on Wednesday (September 27), where members supported the idea of questions being allowed on any topic which specifically affected the district.

Rudgwick resident Paul Kornycky said: “I welcome this analysis and potential proposal so early in the tenure of the new leadership of the council.

“It would reinstate the right of residents and parish/neighbourhood councils to attend a full council meeting and ask a public question on a topic of concern to them, not constrained by the specific agenda of that meeting, albeit still subject to perfectly reasonable caveats.

“Full council meetings are the ideal place for this as all councillors are expected to be present at such meetings held in public, to hear both question and answer.”

There were mixed feelings about Mr Kornycky’s suggestion that members of the public should be allowed to make statements during meetings, especially cabinet meetings, rather than ask questions.

Tony Bevis (Lib Dem, Roffey North) supported the idea of ‘becoming more open in our meetings’.

But given the lack of experience of many of the new councillors, he suggested ‘moving forward slowly’ for now and perhaps looking at the idea of allowing statements at a later date.

Roger Noel (Con, Bramber, Upper Beeding & Woodmancote) said that allowing the public to ask questions of cabinet members risked ‘muddying the waters’ when it came to decision making.

He added: “I fully support the public attending and making statements – but to start questioning portfolio holders whilst ideas and proposals are still being honed would make life a bit more difficult.”

The committee’s thoughts will be put to the next meeting of the full council on October 11, where a decision will be made.

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Kornycky said: “It’s great to see the new council leadership fulfilling their promise of an early review of the public speaking rules.

“The public question time proposals are a great start with the governance committee also voting for further analysis of the rules for public statements.

“After years of the previous leadership’s systematic dismantling of these rights, it’s refreshing to think that they might soon be restored.

“Let’s hope that there will be a recorded vote at council when these proposals are debated, then we will see if councillors whose political party removed these rights have learned any lessons from their drubbing at the last election.”