At last night’s Annual council meeting, the motion to change the way that public question time works was approved. Not without opposition we’re told – but more on that later. We thought it would be useful to compare the Isle of Wight with neighbouring councils and set Charlotte off on a journey to find out more. Ed
With the way that public question time works about to go through radical changes, VB wondered how our neighbours fared in the democracy stakes?
Changes to the constitution will mean that Isle of Wight residents will have to register their interest before a meeting to ask a question. VB looks into other constitutions in Hampshire to see how they handle public questions.
Eastleigh
Eastleigh Council’s constitution allows 15 minutes of public questions before the meeting as well as 10 minutes of questions once an agenda item is reached.
Equal time is split between opposing views “five minutes for, five minutes against.”
Those wishing to ask a question should advise the Democratic Services Officer before the meeting begins. Residents are only allowed to speak once.
Steve Slominski from www.eastleighnews.org.uk suggests Eastleigh Council’s method does not allow as much time as the constitution proposes, “In Eastleigh you are allowed three minutes to talk, there is a traffic light system so you know when to stop talking but it is very difficult to fit a good argument into three minutes.
“If you ask a question at the beginning of a meeting they will tell you to wait until the agenda you are asking about has been reached. Now and again the meetings will be longer to allow more questions but it is very much the discretion of whoever the Chairman of the meeting is.”
Portsmouth
Portsmouth City Council only allows written questions for 15 minutes per meeting.
Notice of wanting to ask a question must be submitted to the Local Democracy Manager a full 11 days beforehand.
Portsmouth Council allows one subsequent question to be asked orally if it directly appears from an answer. If a person asks more than one question, their other questions will be answered only if there is enough time after everyone else.
Southampton
Southampton City Council allows written questions to be read out during meetings.
They must be sent a clear seven days before the meeting and should include the questioner’s name, address and the name of the executive to whom the question is asked.
Southampton Council allows residents to ask three questions. One supplementary question may be asked orally if it arises directly out of an answer.
For more information on the changes in the constitution visit the Council website.
Image: Guillaume Paumier under CC BY 2.0
