Council’s Economic, Finance and Community Committee meetings will be the site for trialling a new public forum, starting next month.

The initiative will give residents the opportunity to talk, for up to five minutes, about agenda items relating to EFC and its areas of responsibility. The year-long trial is subject to ratification by full Council on 2 March.

EFC Chairperson Jamie Arbuckle said similar forums were an established process in a number of other councils around the country.

“We now have the framework set up and will look to start the meeting 30 minutes earlier to allow for the public to speak,” he said. “The public forum gives residents the opportunity to speak to issues of the relevant agenda or emerging issues in the committee’s areas of responsibility.”

Residents can already express their views through Council’s Annual Plan/Long Term Plan and consultation processes, Mr Arbuckle said, and the forum is not designed to replace those. “Topics will be restricted to agenda items and emerging issues of EFC as there are other avenues available,” he said.

Marlborough Mayor Nadine Taylor said while Councillor Arbuckle was the driving force behind the proposed forum, she supported it and had worked on the structure with him.

“It’s important to open up the chambers and decision-making to the public where we can,” she said. “Council committees are the workhorses of Council and I think it’s the right place for the community to come as we work through the papers.”

A facility will be made available for public forum speakers to speak online, and requests must be made at least one clear day before the meeting unless the chairperson decides otherwise.

At the end of the year the success and scope of the trial will be reviewed.

If ratified, the first opportunity to speak will be the Economic, Finance and Community Committee meeting on Tuesday 21 March. Other EFC meetings for the year are Tuesday 2 May, Tuesday 13 June, Tuesday 25 July, Tuesday 5 September, Tuesday 17 October and Tuesday 28 November.

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