Full Council meetings
Full Council meetings
There are 3 ways you can raise issues at Full Council meetings.
Public questions
You can submit up to 2 questions on any subject which is within the council's control. Questions at a Full Council meeting are called public questions.
Petitions
You can start a petition to ask the council to act on something and you have good reasons for it. That action must be within the council’s control.
Deputations
You can apply to speak at a council meeting on behalf of a group. An individual or group appointed to represent others and speak on their behalf is called a deputation.
Submitting a question at Full Council meetings
You must be a resident or local taxpayer of the borough to submit a question to a Full Council meeting.
You can submit up to 2 questions by email or in writing.
Each question must:
- be less than 100 words
- cover only 1 topic
- relate to something the council is responsible for or has the authority to deal with
Email your question to the Committee Services team at committees@royalgreenwich.gov.uk, including your:
- name
- address
- email address
You must submit your questions by 12 noon, 7 working days before the Full Council meeting. We will not take any questions received after this time.
Find the dates of upcoming Full Council meetings
Questions we do not accept
We cannot accept questions that:
- you have already asked in the last 3 months, unless there has been a change in council policy in that time
- are about you personally, for example ‘why have my bins not been collected?’
- are from someone who is not a resident or local taxpayer of the borough
- are about a business based outside of the borough
- are from current or former staff of the council about their employment
- are defamatory, frivolous or offensive
- require the disclosure of confidential information
- we have already resolved
What happens next
We will print out your question and response at the meeting and post it on our website.
At the meeting, you will have 30 minutes to ask any follow up questions. We will answer follow up questions in the order we received the original questions.
Once you have asked a question, you cannot submit a similar question for the next 3 months.
Submitting a petition at Full Council meetings
Any Councillor can present a petition to the council on your behalf.
If you have a petition, contact your local Ward Councillor first.
You'll need to state in your petition:
- the aim and reasons of the petition
- what action you would like the council to take
As the lead petitioner, on the first page of your petition or on a cover letter, you should include your:
- full name
- address
- email address
- telephone number
Petitions we accept
For your petition to be valid, it must:
- have at least 3 petitioners (who are not members of the same family) who have signed it
- include names and addresses of everyone who signs it
- relate to something the council is responsible for or has the authority to deal with
The request in your petition must not be of a personal nature.
What happens next
Your Councillor will present the petition to the Full Council at the next available meeting.
The council will receive the petition without debate and you will not be able to speak at this point.
The council will then share your petition with the relevant director, department and cabinet member for response.
We will present your response to Full Council within 2 meetings of you submitting it.
We will then invite you as the lead petitioner to the meeting and you can speak about the response for 2 minutes.
Planning and licensing applications
You should email petitions relating to live planning or licensing applications to:
Full Council cannot overturn a planning or licensing decision after it’s made.
Deputations at Full Council meetings
An individual or group can apply to speak to the council on behalf of others by applying to the council in writing.
When you write to us, you must include:
- your full name
- your telephone number
- your address
- details of the issue you want to raise
We must have received your application 1 week before the date of the Full Council meeting.
Email your application to committees@royalgreenwich.gov.uk.
What happens next
The Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer will decide whether to accept your application. We will tell you the outcome and the reasons if it’s denied.
You can have any number of people in your deputation, but only 2 can speak.
For each group, the speech should not be longer than 7 minutes. If you need more time, you’ll need to apply for an extension at least 24 hours before the meeting. There is no guarantee that we will accept your extension.