Have Your Say

The Council is committed to listening to the views of the public and to taking these into account in its decision making processes. If you want to express your views there are two ways you can do this:

Via Members

You can consult any Member of the authority on any subject but you are most likely to be satisfied:

• for problems in a given area, if you contact the Member for that area
• for problems on a specific issue, if you contact the Cabinet Member responsible for that issue.

At Meetings

You can ask a question at any meeting of the Full Council, the Cabinet, the Audit and Performance committee, the Scrutiny Committee or the Planning Committee during 'Public Question Time' which comes at the start of each meeting immediately after the Minutes of the previous meeting are considered.

The amount of time allowed for public questions is fifteen minutes although this may be extended by the Chairman at their discretion.

If you wish to ask a question you should submit it in writing to the Director of Legal and Democratic Services at least 48 hours (not including weekends and bank holidays), before the start of the meeting. This can be done by sending an email to committee.services@iow.gov.uk

Questions must be of relevance to the Council or, in the case of a committee, to the remit of that committee and you may only ask one question unless the Chairman decides otherwise. You may however ask a supplementary question to clarify the reply you have been given .

The Chairman is solely responsible for this part of the meeting and may use his powers to rule any question out of order for the following reaons:

• if the above procedures are not followed
• if the language used is not acceptable
• if the question duplicates a previous question at the same meeting
• if the matter raised is the subject of current or impending legal proceedings
• if the matter would require the disclosure of exempt proceedings