Grantham Town Council to introduce public question time at meetings

A town council is to allow members of the public the opportunity to ask questions, a year after it was formed.

Grantham Town Council voted in favour of a proposal from Coun Charmain Morgan (Ind) on Thursday night to set aside a 10-minute slot for public engagement at the start of meetings.

She said: “It’s extremely important that we do engage with our community and give them an opportunity to tell us what’s important to them.

“This is a really important forum for them to be able to do that.”

The authority was first elected in May 2024 and has spent much of the past year establishing finances and administration.

The council voted to adopt a similar style to South Kesteven District Council, though with a shorter time slot, allowing questioners to speak for up to five minutes in total, including their question and a supplementary one.

Questions must be submitted at least seven days before the meeting.

Councillors also want to involve younger residents, and further discussions are to take place around how that might work, as well as how the town council can encourage district and county councillors to update the authority on wider decisions.

The next meeting of the full council is pencilled in for Thursday, June 19.