Public participation

We encourage members of the public to participate in our affairs. All relevant issues raised by members of the public will be taken into account when the council is making its decisions.

Public Speaking Rules

Taking part in Council, Executive and all other Committee meetings (excluding Planning Committees).

The majority of Committee, Executive and full Council meetings are open to the public and there is a standing item on Executive and full Council agendas for public participation. Anyone who lives, works, or studies in West Oxfordshire is eligible to take part.

How to participate

At meetings of the Executive and Full Council, members of the public may ask one question directed at the Leader or any Executive Member on any agenda item or on any issue that affects the district or its people.

At meetings of committees, members of the public cannot ask a question but may read a statement or express an opinion. A statement or expression of opinion is also allowed at meetings of full Council.

All questions or statements must be no longer than three minutes long.

Members of the public wishing to speak at a meeting must notify democratic.services@westoxon.gov.uk, or call Customer Services on 01993 861000 including their name and the agenda item or topic they wish to speak on, by 2.00pm two clear working days before the meeting (e.g. for a Wednesday meeting, the deadline would be 2.00pm on the Friday before).If the topic of the question is not within the remit of the Council, advice will be provided on where best to direct the question.

The relevant Executive Member will either respond to a question verbally at the meeting or provide a written response which will be included in the minutes of the meeting.

What your submission can be about

At committee meetings your submission must relate to points on the meeting agenda. At full Council meetings or Executive meetings other issues can be raised which are relevant to the district. You can find out which committee has responsibility for the issue you want to raise by looking at the agendas and reports for the meetings. These are available five clear working days before each meeting. Some matters may be excluded, contact democratic.services@westoxon.gov.uk for advice or more information.

What happens during the meeting

The time limit for one submission is three minutes. If several people want to contribute on the same subject they are restricted to a total of three minutes. The time for all submissions at one meeting is 30 minutes. You will be invited to read out your statement, or if you are unable to attend the meeting in person, your submissions will be read to the meeting by a member of staff. You will not be asked questions on your submission. Contact democratic.services@westoxon.gov.uk for advice if you are unsure.

These processes aim to strike a balance between the need to conduct business, technological and other risks, and being able to hear the views of the public. We will keep this process under review.

Taking part in Planning Committees

When planning applications are heard by the Development Control Committee or a Planning Sub-Committee, there is an opportunity for applicants, members of the public and other interested parties to put forward views for or against the application. The information that they provide is considered to be very useful in helping the Committee or Sub-Committee to reach a sound planning decision.

You can request to attend the meeting and address the Committee or Sub-Committee in person. Three minutes is allocated for each of the following groups to address the meeting:

• Those objecting to the application
• The relevant parish or town council
• Those supporting the application, including the applicant
• The ward member(s)

The time limit will be strictly applied. This means that the total time allocated for all representations on any application is twelve minutes. We ask that you forward a copy of your submission to us prior to the meeting, just in case there are any difficulties on the day and you are unable to attend the meeting.

Planning applications for which a speaker or speakers have been registered will, whenever possible, be heard first. This may involve some re-ordering of the applications compared to how they appear on the meeting agenda.

Please contact us by 12 noon the Friday before the meeting to request to take part by emailing democratic.services@westoxon.gov.uk.

Alternatively you can call Customer Services on 01993 861000 (please note that you will still need to email us your submission).

What you can comment on

Submissions will be allowed on any application on the schedule of planning applications to be considered by the Development Control Committee or Planning Sub-Committees. For example, applications for planning permission, listed building consent, conservation area consent, advertisement consent and applications to fell trees subject to Tree Preservation Orders. Public speaking will also be allowed where confirmation of a previous decision is being sought. Submissions will not be allowed on other items within the agenda, such as potential enforcement action cases where there is no associated retrospective planning application, decisions taken under delegated authority, appeal decisions, or Lawful Development Certificates which are legal determinations based on the facts.

Planning meetings are held in public and no submissions of a personal, slanderous, defamatory, or otherwise offensive or abusive nature should be made.

A maximum of three minutes per submission will be allowed. The time must be strictly adhered to. The Chair may, in exceptional circumstances, use their discretion to extend the time allocated for representations.

Conflict of interests

Submissions must be seen to be truly independent and not have a direct interest in the application or be related to, or a business associate of the applicant. Town and Parish Councillors are reminded of their responsibilities under the agreed Code of Conduct. The Council will not be aware of any interests or conflicts which town or parish councillors have, so the responsibility for complying with this rests with the town or parish councillor concerned.

Petitions

We welcome petitions from those who live, work, or study in West Oxfordshire and we recognise that petitions are one way in which people can let us know their concerns or the strength of public feeling.

All petitions sent or presented to us will be acknowledged within 10 working days of receipt. The acknowledgement will set out what we plan to do with the petition. We will treat something as a petition if it is identified as being a petition, or if it seems to us that it is intended to be a petition.

Submitting a petition

Petitions submitted to the council must include:

• a clear and concise statement covering the subject of the petition, stating what action the petitioners wish the council to take
• the name and address and signature of any person supporting the petition, which must be not fewer than 10 people

Petitions should be accompanied by contact details, including an address, for the petition organiser. This is the person we will contact to explain how we will respond to the petition. If the petition does not identify a petition organiser, we will contact signatories to the petition to agree who should act as the petition organiser.   

Our petitions scheme has more information about submitting petitions and what will happen after you have done so, as well as some matters which are excluded from the scheme, by law.

Petitions Scheme - pdf - 102 Kb

Details of petitions received and of the council's response will be published online. The contact details of the petition organiser will not be placed online.

Send paper petitions to: Head of Democratic Services, West Oxfordshire District Council, Council Offices, Woodgreen, Witney, OX28 1NB.

e-Petitions

Petitions can also be submitted online. To request the creation of an e-petition, the petition organiser will need to provide us with their name, postal address and email address. You will also need to decide how long you would like your petition to be open for signatures, up to a maximum of 12 months. E-petitions must follow the same guidelines as paper petitions.

To request the creation of an e-petition email enquiries@westoxon.gov.uk with the information described above, and please include "e-petition request" in the subject line. We will, as necessary, contact you should we need to clarify anything before your e-petition goes live.  

Current petitions

View our petitions page to read the details of any current petitions, or to support a current e-petition.