How decisions are made

Members of the public are able to watch meetings of the Council, the Executive, committees and some sub-committees but may not speak. The only exception to this is if the body concerned has agreed to receive a deputation.

 

The Council and the Executive do not normally receive deputations. Committees and sub-committees may agree to receive deputations from members of the public to enable them to address the committee/sub-committee about a matter on the agenda for their meeting. The one exception to this is the Planning Applications Committee, which will receive only written representations. Also, special arrangements apply to the Licensing Sub-Committees, which operate in a quasi-judicial manner, with objectors and applicants taking part in a "hearing" before the Sub-Committee.

Groups wishing to ask for a deputation to be received at a committee/sub-committee are also required to seek a prior meeting with the relevant Cabinet Member whose remit covers the matter the deputation wish to raise (unless that member decides to set aside this requirement in a particular case). Where the Cabinet Member considers that the matter falls within the terms of reference of a particular Overview and Scrutiny Committee he/she will seek to involve the chairman of that committee in the meeting. If a meeting is held, the Cabinet Member would undertake to inform the committee of the group's concerns.

A request for a meeting with the Cabinet Member and a deputation to a committee should be made in writing to the Director of Administration at the Town Hall, Wandsworth High Street, London SW18 2PU. The request must state, in general terms, the points the deputation wishes to raise. It must also include the names of six members/supporters of the group/organisation concerned. Further details about how to submit a request and arrange a meeting with the relevant Cabinet Member can be obtained from the committee secretary of the overview and scrutiny committee whose terms of reference cover the matter the deputation wish to raise, whose name, telephone number and e-mail address appear at the head of the agenda for the committee meeting and on the page on the website where the details of the committee appear.

The meeting with the Cabinet Member will normally take place at the Town Hall, SW18. This meeting is intended to be less formal than a committee meeting and might allow the issues which the group/organisation are concerned about to be resolved, even to the extent that the group/organisation might feel it is no longer necessary to pursue their earlier request for a deputation to the committee.

If the group/organisation still wish their request for deputation to be put to the committee this will be done in the form of an item placed on the agenda for the committee meeting. It will then be for the committee to decide whether they wish to receive the deputation.

At the committee meeting the members of the deputation should, in the first instance, take seats in the public gallery. If the committee agree to receive them, they will be invited into the committee room, to sit at the end of the table while their speaker addresses the committee and they reply to any questions which members of the committee wish to put to them.

Deputations may consist of up to ten people but only one person may address the committee initially, and that person may speak for up to ten minutes, unless the committee agree a longer period. Other members of the deputation may speak in reply to questions from members of the committee. Once a deputation has been heard the members of the deputation will be asked to resume their seats in the public gallery while the committee go on to discuss the matter.

If you require further general guidance about how to request a deputation to a committee, please contact the Head of Executive and Committee Services, by telephone on 020 8871 6005.