Our Code of Practice – Access to Meetings & Documents complies with our legislative requirements (under the Local Government Act 1999) and ensures we appropriately allow access to meetings and documents in a timely, effective and fair way.

We are consulting on the draft revised Code of Practice as it is due for review.

The document is formatted to simplify Council’s process, and provide clear direction for the community on Council’s approach to these matters, in an easy, accessible way and complies with Council’s legislative requirements.

What can be changed?

Code of Practices can be complicated, but essentially, they provide the operational framework within which Council functions to guide decision making by Council Members and administration.

We can decide on:

• Additional key considerations for making access to documents easier e.g. copies in library;
• Location on the website for easier access;
• How the community are informed regarding agenda/minute publishing;
• Comment on approach to confidentiality but not if we do/do not go into confidence e.g. leaving confidential items to the end of a meeting;
• If there are any other additions that doesn’t contradict legislation.

All relevant feedback will be considered and may change wording to the final draft revised policy, or reflected in our internal processes

What has changed?

To make our Code of Practice – Access to Meetings & Documents easier to understand we are updating the way our documents are formatted. Our revised draft Code of Practice – Access to Meetings & Documents may look different to some of our older documents you might have read but hope it helps clear up the process regarding community access.

We have added a new section to this Code of Practice outlining the process for community members to appear before Council or a committee (known as a deputation). This was originally in our Code of Practice – Meeting Procedures.

A new section has also been added detailing the process for external parties to present at council or committee meetings.