Agenda

To receive any apologies for absence.

To receive declarations from members of any disclosable pecuniary interest, personal interests, other registrable interest or any other interests in respect of items on the agenda.

To consider whether the press and public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of any item on the agenda.

At each South Cumberland Community Panel meeting 30 minutes shall be available to allow questions by members of the public who live, work or study in the Panel’s area.

The Chair will have discretion to limit the number of questions if they cannot be answered within the timescale.  Any question which cannot be dealt with at the meeting because of the lack of time will be dealt with by a written answer to be sent within ten working days of the meeting by the Chair of the Panel.

A question may be rejected if it:

• is not relevant to a matter for which the Council has a responsibility and which affects the Panel’s area;
• is illegal, improper, irregular, frivolous or offensive;
• is substantially the same as a question which has been put at a meeting of the Council in the previous six months;
• will, if answered, disclose confidential or exempt information;
• relates to a development control or licensing application;
• relates to a matter or issue in respect of which a response has already been given under the Council’s complaints procedure or which is currently being dealt with in accordance with the complaints procedure or other formal process, such as court or tribunal proceedings or which is the subject of threatened court or tribunal proceedings by the person asking the question or a person or group which they represent;
• relates to a matter or issue of a purely personal concern to the individual asking the question or their family members;
• is lengthy or a speech; or
• is an unintelligible question.

If the Chair decides not to allow a question, his or her reasons will be notified to the questioner at the meeting or in writing after the meeting.

Asking the Question at the Meeting

The Chair will invite the questioner to put the question to the meeting.

A supplementary question may be asked but must arise directly out of the original question or the reply.  The Chair may reject a supplementary question on any of the grounds above.

Record of Questions

Questions that have been accepted and their responses will be recorded in the minutes of the meeting and published on the Council’s website within those minutes.

Answers

The questions asked at the meeting shall be put and members will answer wherever possible. 

An answer may take the form of:

• a direct oral answer;
• where the information requested is contained in a publication of the Council, a reference to that publication;
• a written answer to be provided later to the questioner, where the reply cannot conveniently be given orally, to be provided to the questioner and circulated to all Panel members within 10 working days thereafter; or
• referral to an individual Councillor for follow up.

Reference of Question to a Committee

Any Councillor may move that a matter raised by a question be referred to the appropriate committee or sub-committee.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the previous meetings held on 4 December 2024 and 14 February 2025.

To consider a report by the Community Development Officer.

To consider a report by the Community Development Officer.

To note the minutes of, and any updates from, the Highways and Transport Strategic Board meeting held on 29 January 2025.

The next scheduled meeting of the South Cumberland Community Panel will take place on Tuesday 24 June at 10:30am with the venue to be confirmed.