Members considered an amendment to the Constitution to apply a Planning Public Speaking Protocol to Members’ general speaking rights at Planning Board and Planning Committee meetings.
Procedure Rule 38 in the Constitution provided that any Member may attend
Committees to which they had not been appointed. The Member had no
right to vote, but could speak with the consent of the chairman.
The Council had delegated authority to the Strategic Planning Board to adopt its own working protocols. The Board had now adopted a Protocol which gave enhanced speaking rights to a wide range of speakers who could address the Board and Committees. It was therefore necessary to amend the existing provisions within the Constitution relating to Member and public speaking.
The Committee had previously resolved to review Member and public speaking provisions in consultation with the Cabinet and Corporate Scrutiny Committee. This particular provision, however, had been approved by the Strategic Planning Board under its delegated powers and was now in operation. It was therefore necessary to reflect this in the Constitution.
RESOLVED
That Council be recommended that
(1) Procedure Rule 38 of the Constitution be amended to add a new paragraph 38.4: “At meetings of the Strategic Planning Board and Planning Committees, Members’ speaking rights are subject to the protocol on public speaking entitled ‘Public Speaking Rights at Strategic Planning Board and Planning Committees (contained in Part 5 of the Constitution)”;
(2) the public speaking protocol set out as an Appendix to the report be added to the Constitution; and
(3) where practicable, Members be given priority when speaking on planning matters at meetings in order to avoid their having to wait.