Resident Resources
How to Attend a Stockport Council Meeting
At one of our public meetings, a resident mentioned Stockport Council's website makes it hard to work out how to attend. This page is the practical guide: which door to use when you get to the Town Hall, what time to arrive, and how to ask a question if you wish to.
Finding the entrance
Use the main entrance: the columned front of Stockport Town Hall facing Wellington Road South (the A6). The Council Meeting is in the Council Chamber, and the Central Stockport Area Committee meets in Committee Room 2. Both are reached from inside that door. Check the agenda in case the room has changed.
Step-free access, and the dedicated disabled parking, are from Lacy Street. The Council's accessibility note covers that entrance.
If you are outside, or you get in and are struggling to find the room, ask a member of staff. Reception is manned by security.
What time to get there
Both meetings start at 6pm. Confirm that on the agenda. You can leave whenever you want.
- If you only want to watch, arrive a little before 6pm so you can find the room before the meeting starts. On a first visit, aim for about 5.40pm.
- If you want to speak on a planning application at the Area Committee, tell the Democratic Services officer at least five minutes before the start. Being there at 5.40pm leaves time to find the door and still meet that deadline.
- An Area Committee question can be handed in on a card when you arrive, up to the moment the meeting starts. You need to be inside before 6pm.
- A question to the Council Meeting has to be in writing at least three hours before the start. For a 6pm meeting, that is 3pm, and it has to name the councillor you are asking. Turning up at 6pm is too late to lodge one.
Once you are in the room
Sit in the public seats. You do not join the debate unless your question is called, you are speaking on a planning application, or the meeting is in an Open Forum. If the committee moves to a confidential item, everyone who is not a councillor or an officer is asked to leave for that part.
Asking a question
At the Area Committee you can ask about something within that committee's powers, except legal or confidential matters. Submit it on the Council's online form beforehand, or ask Democratic Services for a question card when you arrive, up to the start of the meeting. The same form links to the Code of Practice.
At the Council Meeting the question is put to a named councillor, in writing, at least three hours before the start. Use the same form. If you are not in the room when it is called, the reply is sent to you in writing instead.
A question will not be taken if it is about a live planning or licensing application, a legal case, something confidential, or a party-political point. The same question will not be heard again if that meeting had it in the last six months. The chair decides whether it is heard, and you can ask one follow-up. If the answer needs looking up, it should be sent to you in writing within seven days.
Speaking on a planning application
At the Area Committee, one person can speak against an application and one person can speak in support, for three minutes each. Tell the Democratic Services officer when you arrive, at least five minutes before the start. Applications that people have come to speak on are taken first. If yours has already been dealt with, you cannot speak on it. Councillors may ask you to clarify what you said, and after that the debate is between the committee. You can speak only the first time that application is considered, unless it has been materially changed and comes back.
Open Forum
The Area Committee lets a local group, rather than a party-political organisation, give a short presentation on a community issue. Email democratic.services@stockport.gov.uk at least seven clear working days before the meeting. Weekends and bank holidays do not count, so the week of the meeting is already too late. Say what the group wants to talk about. The same group cannot do this more than once in twelve months unless the committee asks them back. It is not for planning applications or legal cases.