Making a deputation to Council

Fareham Borough Council has adopted a Deputation Scheme for all its committee meetings which form the Council's Committee Structure. The scheme allows anyone with a vested interested in the Council, e.g. living, working, studying or the owner of property or a business in the Borough to speak on a specific topic which falls within the Council's powers and functions. This page outlines the guidelines and rules for speaking at a full Council meeting.

Information about Council Meetings

Full Council meetings are held 7 times a year and take place in the Council Chamber. However, deputations cannot be made at the Annual Council meeting in May. Council meetings are attended by all 32 Fareham Borough Councillors. Further information about our Council meetings, including a full list of meetings dates, can be found here: Council Meetings

How to apply to make a deputation

You must formally apply to us in writing to submit a request to make a deputation.  This must happen regardless of whether you wish to speak in person, or submit a written deputation. 

If you are requesting to make a written deputation, please do not submit your written deputation at this stage.  You will be contacted to confirm your request has been accepted, and at that point, advised further. 

To lodge your request to make a deputation, this can be done via email, by post, completing a form at the Civic Offices or by completing this online form: Deputation Request.

We require the deputation request only to be submitted to Democratic Services by noon 3 working days before the meeting. For example, if the meeting is to be held on a Wednesday afternoon, your application to make a deputation must be received by noon on Friday the week before.

Please note that we will not be able to accept any submitted written deputations unless you have made a deputation request first, and this has been confirmed.

Guidelines for making deputation to Council

If you would like to speak at a full Council meeting you may do so on any topic, but we ask that you adhere to a few ground rules:

• An application to make deputation providing brief details of the points you wish to raise must be submitted to Democratic Services by noon 2 working days before the meeting – for example; if the meeting is to be held on a Thursday evening, your deputation must be received by noon on Tuesday.
• Deputations can be in person or as a written statement which will be published alongside the meeting agenda and circulated to Members of prior to the meeting. Written statements must be received by noon the day before the meeting. 
• Any written or photographic supporting material must be submitted to Democratic Services prior to the meeting. Please discuss any supporting material with us so that we can ensure that, if appropriate, it can be circulated in good time.  Please be aware that Members of the Council are under no obligation to take this material into account in making their decision.
• The maximum time you will be allocated to speak at the meeting will be 10 minutes (1,300 words in the case of a written statement). Your deputation will be timed, and we ask that you do not exceed the time allocated to you. The total time allocated at a meeting for deputations is 30 minutes. If more than 3 deputation requests are received, the total time will be shared equally among all the Deputees.
• The topic must fall within the powers and functions of the Council.

We ask that anyone making a deputation respects these rules and conducts themselves in an appropriate manner. Our meetings are held in public and our officers must ensure that meetings are fair and just for the benefit of everyone in attendance.

The rules of our deputation scheme are bound by the Council's Constitution, which can be found by following this link: Constitution (524 KB).

The Council's Committee Officers are available to discuss any aspect of the deputation process. We understand how potentially daunting giving a deputation can be so we are here to help. If you have any queries or require any further clarification, then please call our Democratic Services Team on 01329 824581 or email democraticservices@fareham.gov.uk