Committee Process

Municipal Committee Timetable agreed each year at the December Full Council meeting.

This gives you details of the meetings for the whole year (May to May)

Democratic Services will send meeting invites to you for those Committees where you are a member.

Most meetings start at 6:30pm. Licencing Sub Committees – organised on an ad hoc basis and take place in the morning.

You can attend any meeting, regardless of whether you are a member – either as an observer or as a visiting speaker.

All public meetings are webcast live on the TWBC website – you can either listen to the meeting live or at a later date (it is published immediately after the end of the meeting).

Apologies must be be emailed to the committee inbox no later than 4:30pm on the day of the meeting, and a valid reason for absence must be provided.

For those Members sitting on Planning and Licencing there is a requirement to undertake specific training.  You will not be allowed to partake in these meetings until the necessary training has been done.  Details of the training will be sent to you in due course.  Planning is usually one training session.  But please note, for Licencing, you are likely to be required to attend 3 or 4 sessions.

There is a legal requirement to publish the Agenda for a Committee meeting 5 clear working days before the date of the meeting.   For instance, if the meeting is scheduled for a Tuesday, the agenda will be published the Monday before (except for bank holidays, when the agenda will be published earlier on Friday). There are legal exceptions for meetings such as emergency licensing sub-committee hearings, when agendas may be published at shorter notice.

Once published, the agenda will appear on the TWBC website and on Modern.Gov.

For the most part, the entirety of the agenda will be available in the public domain.  However, if there is private or confidential information included, this information is likely to be exempt.  Exempt information is not available on the TWBC website, and you will only be able to access it via Modern.Gov.

There is also occasion when further information is published after the agenda, in the form of supplementary agendas. These will likewise be available via the TWBC agenda and Modern.Gov.

It is also normal practice for the Clerk of that Committee to also send an email to members of the Committee to both inform them of the publication and also attach a copy of the agenda papers for ease of reference.

Councillors can ask questions at Full Council and/or request to speak at any Committee meeting.

Councillors must register after the agenda has been published and indicate the agenda item they wish to speak/ask question on.

For questions, these must be submitted 3 clear working days before the meeting.

If you wish to speak, you must register by 4pm the day before the meeting.

Submitting a question at Full Council – at the meeting you will be asked to read your question, it will then be answered by the appropriate Member.  You will then be allowed to ask a supplementary question (but this must be a supplementary of the original question rather than a completely different subject).  This will also be answered.  There is no further opportunity to speak.

Speaking at Committee – If you wish to speak, you can register from the time the agenda is published however, you must register by 4pm the day before the meeting.

At the appropriate time, you will be asked to address the Committee.  You will have 3 minutes to do this.  There is no option for a supplementary and no further opportunity to speak.

On the day of the meeting, it is advisable to arrive at least 15 minutes prior to the start of the meeting.  However, there is no need to stay once your part in the meeting is over.

For the most part the process for these meetings are slightly more informal (the exception being JTB).

For JTB – the dates of these meetings are included on the Timetable of meetings.  They are a joint meeting with Kent CC and include all the TW County Councillors.  In addition, there is a Parish Council representative.  These meetings are webcast live, but because of the make-up of the meeting, they are currently held via Microsoft Teams.

With regards to the rest e.g. Climate Emergency Panel, Housing Advisory Panel etc, meetings are held on an ad hoc basis depending on need.

Democratic  Services operates a Committee Inbox.  We strongly advise Councillors to use this email when contacting Dem Services about issues.  This avoids unnecessary delays.  Committee@tunbridgewells.gov.uk

The Member newsletter is emailed to all Councillors every Thursday.  This also gives details of meetings scheduled for the following week.

In addition, the newsletter gives details of events and other useful information.

Whilst most correspondence is done via email, there are occasions when Councillors still receive post.  Members personal post is kept in at reception in the Town Hall. It is each Councillors responsibility to check this periodically (e.g. when you come in for meetings).  We cannot be held responsible for post going unchecked.

As you are all aware, working practices have changed dramatically since the pandemic and we are no longer in the office on a full time basis.  However, we are always available on request.

In general terms, we all aim to be in the office on a Tuesday – this is our team day.

Outside this, the relevant meeting Clerk will be in the office on meeting days.  But on these days, please be aware, we will be running around getting the Chamber ready and generally preparing for the meeting, so if you would like to speak to us about a particular issue, it is advisable you set up a time in advance.

If you would like one of us in on a particular day (outside meetings days and/or a Tuesday), this is possible, but again, you would have to contact us in advance to arrange this.