Public question time
At Arun, we believe our committee meetings should be as open and accessible as possible. There is a 15-minute Public Question Time (PQT) at the start of each meeting which you can attend and put your question/s to elected Councillors. Meetings start at 6pm with the exception of the Licensing Committee that starts at 9:30am.
Most of our meetings are held at the Arun Civic Centre at Littlehampton, but this is not always the case and you should check the meeting location on the agenda in advance of the meeting you are interested in attending.
Please note that although members of the public are welcome to attend the Planning Committee and any Sub-Committee meetings within the constitutional procedure rules there is not an opportunity for public questions to be asked.
There is a separate Public Speaking process for applications before the Planning Committee. If you wish to speak at a Planning Committee meeting you are required to register your request, and this must be done before 5pm the day before the meeting is scheduled to take place. To register to speak please call 01903 737512. A list of people will be prepared on a first come, first served basis, up to the maximum allowed by the constitutional procedure rules.
How can you ask your question?
You must give written notice of your question which should be sent to committees@arun.gov.uk 5 working days prior to the date the meeting is scheduled to take place.
You are required to provide the following information within your email;
- your name
- address
- email address
- contact number
- your specific question (please note that this is to be a question and not a statement)
- state if you wish to ask your question yourself or have a member of the committee services team, ask it on your behalf
This is in case we need to contact you prior to the meeting or to follow up in writing with a more detailed answer after the meeting.
Questions will be dealt with on a 'first come, first served' basis. If you have multiple questions you may ask one question at a time and you will be allowed a maximum of 1 minute to ask your question. If there is sufficient time remaining the Chair will invite supplementary questions. The supplementary question must arise directly out of the original question or the reply that was given and shall be limited to 1-minutes duration. The time limit for public questions will be 15-minutes, however the Chair has discretion to extend this period. If the 15-minutes of PQT runs out and is not extended, written answers will be provided to any further questions remaining unanswered.
Questions may be rejected by the Chief Executive/Chair if they:
- are not relevant to matters for which the Council has responsibility, or which affect the District;
- or maybe defamatory, frivolous or offensive;
- or are substantially the same as a question put at a meeting in the past 6 months;
- or would divulge, or require to be divulged, confidential or exempt information
How can I see the record of questions asked?
You can view the questions submitted and answers given in Public Question Time at Full Council and Cabinet meetings held since 10 February 2014 up to 18 May 2021 below.
For questions submitted and answers provided from 19 May 2021 onwards, these can be viewed on the relevant Committee web page as a supplement.
This information will be published within 10 working days of the date of the meeting.
For more information please contact the Committee Services Team at Arun Civic Centre (address below), call 01903 737614/737611 or email: committees@arun.gov.uk