Meetings
All meetings are held at:
Main Hall
The Broadway Centre
Broadway
Sandown, PO36 9GG
Full Council Meetings start at 7 pm, unless otherwise stated on the agenda.
Hall doors will be opened 15 minutes prior to the start of the meeting.
Details regarding the centre can be found on the Broadway Centre webpage.
If in attendance the Mayor will Chair the meeting.
On occasions, the public and the press may be asked to leave the meeting if material of a commercially confidential or other sensitive nature is being considered. This will be an considered an exception and not be a regular occurrence in meetings.
Recording at meetings
Please note that all meetings that are open to the public and press may be filmed or recorded and/or commented on online. Recording activity must not disrupt the meeting, and if it does you will be asked to stop and possibly to leave the meeting. Meetings may also be filmed for live and subsequent broadcast via a hosted internet site (except any part of the meeting from which the press and public are excluded).
If you wish to record, film or photograph the council meeting or if you believe that being filmed or recorded would pose a risk to the safety of you or others then please speak with the clerk prior to that start of the meeting. Their contact details are on the agenda papers.
If the press and public are excluded for part of a meeting because confidential or exempt information is likely to be disclosed, there is no right to record that part of the meeting. All recording and filming equipment must be removed from the meeting room when the public and press are excluded. All information that is recorded by the council is held in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018.
Public participation at Town Council Meetings
A Town Council meeting is a meeting held in public but is not a public meeting. Members of the public:
- have a legal right to attend decision making meetings of the Town Council and its committees, except where they are excluded for specific items which need to be discussed in confidence (e.g. staffing matters or tenders for contracts).
- Have no legal right to speak at meetings of the Town Council or its committees.
The Council sets aside time for public participation for members of the public to make a representation, contribution, suggestion or ask a question. While the Chairman will endeavour to ensure an answer to a question, this may be refused if continuous representations are made or repetitive questions asked. It is recognised that some members of the public may abuse the opportunity to speak.
- Members of the public do not have a right to force items onto the Council agenda and public participation is not to be used to:
- to demand information that is already available to the public or will be made available in accordance with law
- or to raise matters which are not within the control of or relevant to the Town Council.
- to demand changes to how the council works within the legal framework
- The Chairman’s decision to allow a question or require an answer to be given will be final. Members of the public should not heckle or otherwise disrupt the meeting and must respect the rulings of the chair.
- The Chairman of any meeting has the right to exclude a disorderly person(s) and to adjourn the meeting.