Home > Council > Council Meetings > Attending meetings

Attending meetings

All meetings of a Council or Council committee are open to the public except in the situation where the Council or Council committee decides to close a meeting if certain restricted types of matters are to be discussed.

A decision to close a meeting to the public can only be made in advance with the regulations and with the voted support of more than half of all elected councillors, whether or not they are present at the meeting. In the case of a council committee the vote to close the meeting can be made by simple majority of the councillors present.

The chairperson of a meeting may remove the public or exclude any person from a closed meeting to ensure the orderly conduct of council business.

Closed Council meetings

A decision to close a meeting is made with the support of more than half the total number of councillors, whether or not they are present at the meeting. In the case of a council committee this decision can be made by a simple majority of the councillors present when any of the following matters is to be discussed:

  • personnel matters including complaints against staff of the Council
  • industrial matters relating to a person
  • the health or financial position of any person
  • contracts for the supply and purchase of goods and services
  • the security of property of the Council
  • proposals for the Council to aquire land or an interest in the land or for the disposal of land
  • information provided to the Council on the condition it is kept confidential
  • trade secrets of private bodies
  • matters relating to actual or possible litigation taken by or involving the Council or an employee of the Council.
     

The chairperson of a meeting may remove the public or exclude any person from a closed meeting to ensure the orderly conduct of council business.

Documents relating to agenda items dealt with in a closed meeting may be excluded from the public agenda. Minutes of closed meetings will only include the fact that the matter was discussed but no details of the nature of the discussions will be recorded in the minutes, unless the Council or the Council committee determines otherwise.

Any documents or minutes relating to a closed meeting are exempt from Right to Information Act 2009 provisions.